House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith sent a letter to Treasury Secretary and acting IRS chief Scott Bessent, pictured here, and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano referring CAIR-California for IRS review. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is a leading American Muslim civil rights organization, with chapters across the country and its home base located in Washington, D.C. Republicans have scrutinized CAIR in recent years, including calls for Treasury reviews over alleged Hamas ties — allegations the group denies.
CAIR pushed back on the letter to Fox News Digital Tuesday, calling it "embarrassing" and based on "a false claim made by a pro-Israel group without fact-checking."
The New York Post published an article published in March 2025 based on an advocacy group, Intelligent Advocacy Network, investigation into CAIR-California that found alleged financial irregularities.
CAIR-California includes offices in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and San Diego.
The call for an investigation comes as the IRS and other investigators dig into what officials say is a sprawling COVID-era scheme in Minnesota involving money laundering that has dominated headlines since before the holiday season. Federal prosecutors have estimated the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion.
Officials have made dozens of arrests, the majority of which are from the state's Somali community.
"The widespread fraud uncovered in Minnesota has only made our efforts to root out fraud in the nonprofit sector more urgent, and we owe it to the American taxpayer to hold these bad actors accountable," Smith told Fox Digital. "If these allegations are true, CAIR-California does not meet the standards required to maintain tax-exempt status, and the IRS must act accordingly."
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The chairman’s letter detailed concerns surrounding CAIR-CA’s handling of more than $7 million in federal refugee legal-aid funding intended to help resettle Afghan refugees.
The referral, citing the New York Post article detailing a watchdog group's previous investigation, indicated CAIR-CA assisted fewer than 10% of the refugees it pledged to help, while allegedly routing millions of dollars through an unregistered affiliate operating under CAIR-CA’s tax identification number — potentially exposing the group to False Claims Act violations, according to the referral.
Homeland Security investigators were part of a large fraud investigation on Monday on Minneapolis following the release of a video over the weekend on alleged day care fraud. (Department of Homeland Security)
Conservatives have previously argued CAIR’s national network crosses from civil-rights advocacy into partisan politics and activism — pointing to past allegations cited by GOP lawmakers of improper political involvement and longstanding concerns about ties to Hamas-linked entities, which CAIR has repeatedly denied.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, for example, designated CAIR, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood, as foreign terrorist organizations under state law in 2025, claiming the groups "support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable."
CAIR pushed back on Abbott's designation, telling the Houston Chronicle in January that it has worked to stop terrorism in the U.S., including claiming it flagged the FBI to a potential threat against President Donald Trump under his first term, the outlet reported.
"We only reveal it now in response to these ludicrous claims that CAIR — which has quite literally helped to stop acts of terrorism — is a terrorist organization," Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR’s national deputy director, told the Chronicle. "CAIR has not only condemned terrorism verbally, but we have taken action to stop terrorism."
Smith's referral cited longstanding concerns about CAIR’s alleged connections to terrorism, including reported links to the now-defunct Holy Land Foundation, which was convicted in 2009 for providing material support to Hamas.
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"Given CAIR-CA’s alarming activity, along with the fact that CAIR’s network holds suspicious ties to terrorist organizations like Hamas, I ask that you use your authority to investigate CAIR-CA and consider the revocation of tax-exempt status of CAIR-CA upon adequate review," Smith concluded in his letter.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/minnesota-fraud-probe-fuels-irs-crackdown-calls-nonprofit-accused-hamas-links