Young Republicans of Texas

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Resolution on Countering Terrorist Organizations

Calls for financial sanctions, prosecution, asset seizure, tax restrictions, and limits on public funding for terrorist organizations and their supporters.

WHEREAS, like any organization, terrorist organizations run on money, and the most effective way to weaken them is to freeze their assets, cut off their donors, and strip them of the financial privileges that civilized societies extend to lawful charities and businesses; and

WHEREAS, on January 13, 2026, the U.S. State and Treasury Departments designated the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the Egyptian and Jordanian chapters as Specially Designated Global Terrorists for material support to Hamas, and on November 18, 2025, Governor Greg Abbott designated the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as foreign terrorist organizations and barred them from acquiring real property in Texas; and

WHEREAS, a designation is only as strong as the financial consequences it triggers, because a label by itself does not freeze an account, shut off a donor, or close a terrorist front, and federal law already supplies financial tools, including the blocking of property and prohibition of transactions under Treasury sanctions authority, up to 20 years in prison for knowingly providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, and suspension of the tax-exempt status and the deductibility of contributions of designated terrorist organizations; and

WHEREAS, the Texas Legislature has the authority and the responsibility to act, and financial restrictions and enforcement tools enacted by statute will outlast any single executive order and withstand judicial review.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Young Republicans of Texas commend Governor Abbott and Attorney General Paxton for their action, call on the Texas Legislature to take up this work in the 90th Legislature, and demand that the Texas and United States governments use every lawful financial tool to punish Islamist terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood and its chapters, and the networks that fund them, judged by funds frozen, assets seized, and funding cut off, and not merely by the labels applied, including:

  1. Sanctions and asset blocking. The State Department and Treasury should designate every remaining terrorist organization and affiliates that meets the statutory criteria, block their property and the property of their financiers, and sanction foreign banks and exchanges that knowingly move their money, and Congress should take up and pass the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act.

  2. Prosecuting financiers. The Department of Justice and FBI should investigate and prosecute, under the material support and money laundering statutes, any person or organization in the United States that funds Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood chapters, or other terrorist groups.

  3. Tax Exemption. The Treasury Department and IRS should act on Governor Abbott’s request to investigate CAIR and suspend its tax-exempt status, and apply the suspension of tax exemption and deductibility that federal law requires for designated organizations.

  4. Seizure, Forfeiture, and Civil Liability. The Department of Justice should use civil and criminal forfeiture to seize assets tied to terrorist financing, the Texas Attorney General should pursue forfeiture and the pending suit against the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to final judgment, and victims should be supported in suing terrorist financiers under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

  5. Texas Public Money. The Texas Legislature should bar designated organizations, and those who knowingly provide them material support, from state contracts, grants, funds, and facilities, direct state pension and endowment funds to divest from entities that finance them, and require nonprofits operating in Texas to disclose their foreign funding sources.

  6. Make It Law. The Texas Legislature should make countering terrorist organizations a priority in the 90th Legislature and write these penalties into statute.

Bibliography

  1. “Trump Admin Designates Muslim Brotherhood Branches in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon as Terrorist Groups”, Algemeiner, January 13th, 2026, https://www.algemeiner.com/2026/01/13/trump-admin-designates-muslim-brotherhood-branches-egypt-jordan-lebanon-terrorist-groups/

  2. “Governor Abbott Designates Muslim Brotherhood, CAIR As Foreign Terrorist Organizations”, Office of the Texas Governor, November 18th, 2025, https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-designates-muslim-brotherhood-cair-as-foreign-terrorist-organizations

  3. “Texas Governor Designates CAIR and Muslim Brotherhood as Terrorist Organizations in Unprecedented State Action”, Homeland Security Today, November 2025, https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/state-local-government/texas-governor-designates-cair-and-muslim-brotherhood-as-terrorist-organizations-in-unprecedented-state-action/

  4. “Islamic Group Sues After Abbott Directs DPS to Investigate Them”, The Texas Tribune, November 18th, 2025, https://www.texastribune.org/2025/11/18/greg-abbott-muslim-land-ownership-ban/

  5. “Attorney General Ken Paxton Sues the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to Stop the Terrorist Groups from Operating in Texas”, Office of the Texas Attorney General, February 5th, 2026, https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-sues-muslim-brotherhood-and-cair-stop-terrorist-groups-operating-texas

  6. “Summary: The Fifth Circuit’s Holy Land Foundation Decision” (United States v. El-Mezain, No. 09-10560, decided December 7th, 2011), Charity & Security Network, 2011, https://charityandsecurity.org/litigation/summary_fifth_circuit_hlf_decision/

  7. “Terrorist Material Support: A Sketch of 18 U.S.C. § 2339A and § 2339B” (discussing Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project), Congressional Research Service, 2010, https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R41334.html

  8. 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(3)(B), Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, U.S. Code, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1182

  9. 26 U.S.C. § 501(p), Suspension of Tax-Exempt Status of Terrorist Organizations, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, U.S. Code, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/501

  10. 8 U.S.C. § 1189, Designation of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, U.S. Code, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1189

  11. “Federal Judge Blocks DeSantis Executive Order Declaring CAIR a ‘Terrorist Organization’”, Florida Phoenix, March 4th, 2026, https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/03/04/federal-judge-blocks-desantis-executive-order-declaring-cair-a-terrorist-organization/

  12. “Governor, Cabinet Approve Designation of CAIR as a Domestic Terrorist Group”, WLRN, September 29th, 2026, https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2026-09-29/governor-cabinet-approve-designation-of-cair-as-a-domestic-terrorist-group

  13. “Texas AG Paxton Moves to Dismiss Lawsuit Challenging Abbott’s CAIR Designation”, The Dallas Express, December 27th, 2025, https://dallasexpress.com/state/texas-ag-paxton-moves-to-dismiss-lawsuit-challenging-abbotts-cair-designation/

  14. “Gov. Abbott and CAIR Head to Federal Court over ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization’ Label”, CBS Austin, December 3rd, 2025, https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/governor-abbott-and-cair-head-to-federal-court-over-foreign-terrorist-organization-label

  15. S. 2293, Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025, 119th Congress, Congress.gov, 2025, https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2293