The Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, and his cabinet approved a regulation this Friday that allows the state to create its own list of terrorist organizations, independent of the one maintained by the federal government, according to reported El Nuevo Herald.
The standard was adopted via teleconference on the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks and establishes the formal procedure for Florida to autonomously designate terrorist groups.
Under the new regulations, the head of Internal Security of the state must submit each appointment in writing. The designated organization will have seven days to present objections and may only appear before the cabinet if expressly authorized to do so.
Once the cabinet approves an appointment, it will be published in the state administrative register within seven days and will take effect 30 days afterwards. Affected organizations may appeal the decision to a state court in Leon County.
The regulation clearly states that mere membership in a designated group or providing legal assistance are not sufficient on their own to initiate a criminal process.
"We already have the process to name these groups, cut off taxpayer support, and hold accountable those who finance them," wrote Florida's Attorney General, James Uthmeier, on the social media platform X.
This regulation is the final link in a legislative chain that began in December 2025, when DeSantis signed an executive order designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations in the state. A federal judge blocked that order in March 2026, ruling that the governor was overstepping a power exclusively held by the federal government.
In response, the Florida Legislature —controlled by Republicans— passed law HB 1471 with a significant majority, and DeSantis signed it in April 2026. The regulation took effect on July 1 and creates a state designation mechanism that requires the approval of the governor and his cabinet, consisting of Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, all three Republicans.
When announcing the first designations under that law, DeSantis included CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Antifa, along with over 90 foreign organizations already recognized by the federal government: the Venezuelan Aragua Train, the Mexican cartels of Sinaloa, the Northeast, and the Gulf, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran.
The inclusion of CAIR is particularly controversial because that organization —the largest Muslim civil rights group in the country— is not listed on the federal list of terrorist groups. In July, CAIR and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against law HB 1471 in federal court, claiming it violates freedom of speech and other constitutional rights. Following the lawsuit, state authorities paused the designation of CAIR until the new regulations were finalized.
A substantive hearing on CAIR's original lawsuit against DeSantis's executive order is scheduled for January 2027 before Federal Judge Mark Walker.
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