On 28 January 2021, a coalition of US Muslim advocacy groups tied to the US Muslim Brotherhood and headed by the Council on American-Islamic Organizations (CAIR) – Texas was scheduled to host the bi-annual “Texas Muslim Capitol Day,” a civic engagement event providing Muslim citizens an opportunity to participate in meetings with legislative offices and state senators. According to a statement on the CAIR website:
On January 28th, the Texas chapters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas) – the local chapters of the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, will host Texas Muslim Capitol Day (virtually). The 10th Texas Muslim Capitol Day is a day-long event for Texas Muslims to engage with the political process. The event includes meetings with elected officials. (…) This year nearly 150 Texans are participating in TMCD with 52 scheduled meetings with Legislative offices.
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The event, whose preparatory work included detailed training and listening sessions, culminated in 25-minute online meetings of pre-selected and trained delegations with State Senators and State Representatives, in which the delegations requested consideration of several bills, including police reform, the abolishment of confederate heroes celebrations in Texas, and mail-in voting. For the event, CAIR-Texas partnered with several other Muslim advocacy organizations tied to the US Muslim Brotherhood, including:
- Muslim Student Associations at Texas A&M University and the University of Houston
- Muslim American Society Youth Center
- Islamic Society of North America – Greater Houston
- Muslim Legal Fund of America, whose Executive Director Khalil Meek also serves as a board member of the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO)
- USCMO founding member Islamic Circle of North America – Council on Social Justice
In January 2021, the Global Influence Operations Report (GIOR) reported that CAIR published a list of Muslim individuals elected to State Legislatures with ties to the US Muslim Brotherhood. Other recent GIOR reporting on CAIR and US elections has included:
- A November 2020 report that CAIR has issued a statement congratulating Democratic President-elect Joe Biden on his victory, vowing to hold the forthcoming administration accountable on Muslim inclusion and civil rights issues.
- A November 2020 report that 27-year-old CAIR board member Mauree Turner had been elected to the Oklahoma state legislature.
- An October 2020 report that CAIR was part of a coalition of Muslim and Arab groups tied to the US Muslim Brotherhood that launched a voter registration drive headed by individuals strongly opposed to Donald Trump.
- An October 2020 report that CAIR was part of a group of American Muslim advocacy organizations tied to the US Muslim Brotherhood that conducted a pre-election “Muslims In America Policy Poll,” surveying 1,500 people in 45 states who were asked to prioritize policy issues.
- An October 2020 report that California Democratic Party officials working for CAIR had authored an election voting guide positively rating votes by Democrat lawmakers, including Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who earlier had sent letters of support to CAIR.
The Council on American Islamic Relations is part of the Global Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist network covered by the GIOR. It describes itself as “a grassroots civil rights and advocacy group” and as “America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group.” It was founded in 1994 by three officers of the Islamic Association of Palestine, part of the U.S. Hamas infrastructure at that time.
For more on CAIR, go here.
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