STATIST ISLAMOPHOBIA

US Congress Calls On Trump Administration To Defund Council On American-Islamic Relations – OpEd

House Republicans are calling for CAIR to face debarment under federal regulations. Image: Grok

May 9, 2026 
By Middle East Forum

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) serves as the lead author behind a key letter calling on Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert Kennedy to suspend and debar the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) because of its “longstanding ties to terrorist organizations” and the “misuse of federal grant funds.”

Signed by 14 House members, Roy’s letter activates a policy framework the Middle East Forum (MEF) introduced to congressional leaders and federal agencies in a bid to eliminate government grants to terror-linked extremist groups.

The letter draws on a federal regulation allowing executive agencies to immediately suspend funding to former grant recipients until formal debarment investigations determine if an entity should face long-term, government-wide bans of grants and contracts. Debarred entities may effectively experience a lifetime funding ban.

Roy’s letter cites MEF research pointing to CAIR’s origins as a Hamas front and public relations wing, its status as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in a 2007 terror finance trial, and the arrest of seven CAIR officials on “terrorism-related charges.”

MEF contends that terrorist-supporting groups like CAIR meet the federal criteria for mandatory debarment. Under established standards, such groups have engaged in conduct “so serious and compelling” that it fundamentally compromises their “present responsibility,” rendering them unfit to serve as trusted federal grant partners. Roy’s letter supports these legal arguments.

House Republican signatories cite a second cause for debarment, arguing that CAIR’s California branch “is suspected of egregiously misusing federal grant funds from the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement.” Public recordsshow that CAIR, which received $7.2 million to provide legal assistance to Afghan refugees, may have violated HHS grant terms by redirecting $3.6 million to itself and failing to deliver promised services.

“CAIR’s status as a federal grant recipient not only jeopardizes public funds but also threatens national security by subsidizing an entity aligned with terrorist groups and extremist movements,” the letter concludes.

In 2025, MEF exposed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants to domestic 501(c)(3) nonprofits with alleged terrorist ties, resulting in congressional hearings and massive cuts to foreign assistance and nonprofit security loans. The move by House Republicans to debar CAIR systematizes these efforts, providing a statutory framework to end government funding of terror-linked groups.

“Congressman Roy stands out for his commitment to protecting Western values in the face of Islamist threats,” said Benjamin Baird, director of MEF Action. “We will continue to work with congressional leaders to dismantle Islamist organizations, debar them from receiving federal funds, delist them as tax-free nonprofits, and designate the worst offenders as terrorist organizations.”

Last month, Roy introduced a bill, H.R. 8236—the Designating Hamas Affiliates in America Act—which directs the Department of Treasury to list CAIR as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. MEF assisted efforts to advance this legislation and launched an MEF Action campaign for constituents to send letters of support.

“CAIR is not a civil rights organization; it is a parasitic Islamist entity that has exploited federal grants to rob the very refugees it claimed to protect,” said Gregg Roman, MEF’s executive director. “Rep. Roy’s actions remove a terrorist-aligned front group from the taxpayer trough.”

MEF urges federal agencies to build debarment cases against terrorist-supporting groups and create alternative legislative solutions to end the era of government-subsidized extremism.