Ties between the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the proposed EPIC City development in North Texas came under scrutiny during a recent U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing chaired by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
EPIC City, which has been criticized as an Islamic enclave and housing development exclusive to Muslims, is a proposal from the East Plano Islamic Center.
The Wednesday hearing of the subcommittee on federal courts, oversight, agency action, and federal rights was titled “Hidden in Plain Sight: Confronting the Muslim Brotherhood Network in America.”
Sen. Cruz addressed the fact that Democrat senators failed to attend the meeting, stating that “their campaign is now openly embracing terrorist organizations waging war on America.”
Cruz heard from witnesses that alleged ties between CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood, and EPIC City.
Arielle F. Klepach, senior litigation counsel for the National Jewish Advocacy Center, called attention to the connection in her written testimony.
She likened the EPIC City development, later rebranded as “The Meadow” following significant backlash, to a pattern of “mega-mosque” building projects in Europe commonly motivated by “Islamist separatism.”
This movement is a “deliberate attempt to cut Muslim communities off spiritually, intellectually, and culturally from the surrounding secular society,” with the building projects in particular “generally [containing] community-like features such as schools, libraries, and gyms,” according to Klepach.
“The American version of this pattern is EPIC City,” Klepach said. “CAIR-Texas and CAIR-DFW have publicly defended EPIC City in the disputes, and CAIR’s national leadership has spoken at the EPIC mosque, reflecting an active advocacy relationship between CAIR and the EPIC religious community.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was designated a foreign terrorist organization by Gov. Greg Abbott late last year, along with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The hearing also revisited CAIR’s role as an unindicted co-conspirator to the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF). The foundation and five of its officials were convicted of “funneling more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas” during a 2008 federal trial. CAIR was not charged in the case.
Lara Burns, senior research fellow for the George Washington University Program on Extremism, drew the connection between CAIR and Hamas in her written testimony.
“The United States Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee served as the original Hamas infrastructure in the United States, initially consisting of the HLF (the fundraising arm),” alongside others, according to Burns.
“At the [2008] trial, still today the largest successful terrorism financing prosecution in American history, [various arms of the Muslim Brotherhood] were identified as unindicted co-conspirators/joint ventures as was [CAIR],” she added.
Cruz cited public remarks by CAIR National Executive Director and co-founder Nihad Awad, who stated he was “happy to see people breaking the siege” with regard to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. Cruz also quoted Zahra Billoo, executive director of CAIR San Francisco, who described the attacks as “witnessing decolonization,” and referred to a Hamas leader as a martyr.
“Many people associated with CAIR have actively aided terrorism and criminal efforts,” stated Cruz. “Senior CAIR official Ghassan Elashi was sentenced to 65 years for funneling over $12 million to Hamas.”
The hearing further discussed how CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood have been tied to the rise of socialism in America.
Cruz noted how “Abdul El-Sayed, the son-in-law of a leading member of several Brotherhood groups, won Michigan’s Democrat primary for U.S. Senate.”
Although he has rejected the title of socialist, El-Sayed reportedly has attended numerous events held by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and headlined their 2019 fundraiser, which described him as a “longtime friend of Detroit DSA.”
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D–Austin), former member of the DSA, was congratulated by CAIR on his primary win this past March, and Democrat U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, also a DSA member, has been endorsed by CAIR Action. CAIR endorsed DSA member Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor.
CAIR has also sued Gov. Abbott on behalf of the DSA regarding the governor’s 2024 executive order “addressing acts of antisemitism in institutions of higher education.”
The hearing comes after former FBI counterterrorism agent John Guandolo warned in a recent interview about a “massive jihadi network and movement in the United States,” with Texas being in a “pre-kinetic” phase of jihad.
“I would say that embracing Muslim Brotherhood rhetoric and furthering their agenda in this country will cause the erosion of our government, the fabric of our society, and it poses a threat to our national security and should be treated as such,” said Burns in her closing remarks at the Wednesday hearing.
