Opinion - Trump's DOJ should stop treating CAIR as a legitimate immigration provider
Why is this? CAIR presents itself as a civil rights organization, but it has a longstanding association with Hamas, for which 'ample evidence' was cited in a court ruling unsealed in 2010. CAIR was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case, the largest foreign terror financing case in U.S. history.
This may not be enough on its own for the terrorism designation that those politicians called for, but it is enough that the government should not be conferring special privileges, influence and legitimacy upon CAIR's most powerful state affiliate, CAIR-California.
Since 2015, CAIR-California has enjoyed a special designation that allows non-lawyers on CAIR's staff to represent clients in immigration proceedings. This accreditation also qualifies CAIR-California to receive certain government funding. This status is a privilege, not a right. According to federal regulations, Executive Office of Immigration Review accreditation is reserved for organizations that are acting in the public interest and maintain ethical and financial accountability. CAIR-California has failed to meet these standards.
The Department of Justice should use its lawful authority to revoke CAIR-California's accreditation with the Executive Office of Immigration Review.
CAIR leaders' open support for terrorist violence — which caused the Biden White House to shun the group after the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks against Israeli civilians — is clearly not in the public interest. In the time since, its extremist rhetoric has been adopted by swaths of activists across America. CAIR's publications and manuals mimic the incendiary language of its leaders.
National Executive Director Nihad Awad expressed happiness after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. CAIR-California CEO Hussam Ayloush stated that 'Israel should be attacked' and that 'Israel has no right to defend itself.' CAIR-California board officer Zahra Billoo praised Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as a 'martyr' and described Oct. 7 as 'decolonization.'
Immigration law requires providers to assess terrorism-related grounds of inadmissibility. Applicants for asylum, legal permanent residency, and many other forms of immigration relief must attest to their rejection of terrorism and their intent not to further it in the United States. How can CAIR-California be trusted to assess the national security risks of clients when it is promoting the very ideology it is tasked with weeding out?
The federal government is effectively letting the fox guard the henhouse.
Aside from these disturbing statements of support for terrorism, CAIR-California's handling of government money should disqualify it from Department of Justice recognition, at least until all funds are publicly accounted for.
A recent investigation by the Intelligent Advocacy Network showed that CAIR-California was entrusted with more than $5 million in federal funds intended to be distributed through sub-grants. Public records offer no public accounting for how that money was spent. In one glaring example, CAIR appears to have sub-granted at least $3.6 million of that $5 million to itself.
California's government transparency site, Open Fiscal, shows that CAIR-California has received more than $10 million in public funding, including $7 million routed from the federal Office of Refugee and Resettlement for immigration assistance and $2.7 million to 'fight hate.' CAIR-California's IRS Form 990 filings fail to disclose these government grants, an apparent violation of tax reporting rules.
CAIR-California also entered into that $7 million public contract with the California Department of Social Services under the name 'CAIR of Greater Los Angeles,' which somehow operates under CAIR-California's tax identification number but does not appear to be a separate legal nonprofit.
This is not a partisan issue. CAIR-California's refusal to open up its financial books and its support for extremism undermine the very immigrant communities the group claims to serve. Public funds should not be used to enrich a single organization or promote violent ideologies.
Department of Justice recognition is meant to ensure that immigration providers deliver competent, ethical legal services and serve as responsible stewards of public funding. CAIR-California has failed to meet these baseline requirements.
The continued flow of federal, state, and city funding to CAIR-California hinges on its accreditation from the Executive Office of Immigration Review. Thus, revocation of that accreditation is not merely symbolic.
The Department of Justice should act to uphold the integrity of its own programs by immediately withdrawing CAIR-California's accreditation. The federal government, California, and the City and County of Los Angeles must end this partnership and work to restore public trust.
Julie Marzouk is the Founder and Principal of Evolve Advocacy Consulting.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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The theory that spawned PPR has been frequently traced back to the Cold War, when Soviet agents allegedly monitored takeout orders to the highest reaches of the U.S. government. Yet it isn't clear the KGB ever relied on such methods. Simon Miles, an associate professor of history at Duke University who has studied Cold War-era spycraft, won't say that he's skeptical of the lore, exactly. 'You can't prove a negative,' he noted. But Miles has seen records from the Stasi, the East German intelligence service that shared information with the Soviets and other Eastern Bloc nations, and nowhere is there a mention of monitoring takeout. 'That's one of these Cold War stories that never goes away,' he said. 'I've never seen documentation to that effect.' Not that Russian spies weren't eyeing the streets around Washington for clues. Documents that Miles studied outlined some of the methods the KGB did use, including whether the government was moving founding documents from the National Archives into secure bunkers and whether many cars were parked past normal working hours at the White House. 'The idea was basically to create a list of indicators which, if enough of them started blinking red, so to speak, you would interpret that to mean that something was actually happening,' Miles said. Pizza, he said, wasn't on the list. Regardless, the 'pizza index' has fascinated people for decades, often fueled by media reports. In 1991, Frank Meeks, then the owner of 43 Domino's outlets in the D.C. area, told the AP that in the days leading up to Operation Desert Storm he had delivered dozens of pizzas to the Pentagon. Fifty-five pies, Meeks bragged, were sent to the White House in the hours before the U.S.-led coalition started an air campaign against Iraq over its invasion of Kuwait. In December 1998, Meeks was quoted by a Washington Post reporter during impeachment hearings against President Bill Clinton and preparations for Operation Desert Fox against Iraq. The White House and Congress broke previous three-day records for pizza deliveries, Meeks told The Post. 'The Pentagon Pizza Index has been a surprisingly reliable predictor of seismic global events — from coups to wars — since the 1980s,' Alex Selby-Boothroyd, head of data journalism for the Economist, wrote in a recent LinkedIn post. 'On the night of August 1st 1990 for example, the CIA ordered 21 pizzas in a single night just before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait (a new record). Who says pie charts aren't useful?' But Pentagon ex-workers say times are different now than in the 1980s and '90s. Since the launch of Uber Eats, Grubhub, DoorDash and other delivery services, a new universe of food options has opened up for workers at the Pentagon, White House or CIA. Why would anyone limit themselves to chain pizza? Besides, as multiple people pointed out, the Pentagon already has plenty of food options inside, including Lebanese Taverna, McDonald's, Moe's Southwest Grill, Panda Express, Panera Bread, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Potbelly Sandwich Works, Subway, Taco Bell, Hissho Sushi and SmokeDatt Barbecue. There's even a pizzeria — Mosaic Pizza Company — but like many of the eateries there, it closes in the afternoon, catering to a rank-and-file staff that's often out the door by 5 p.m. The late-night options are pretty much limited to vending-machine sushi and the Market Basket Basement Cafe. Besides, leaders may not even want to break for food, said a U.S. Army reservist who regularly works in the Pentagon. 'It's just how we're wired,' said the reservist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she wasn't authorized to talk to the media. 'We're just trying to work so we can get it done.' 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