Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the implementation allowing Florida law enforcement to identify several domestic and foreign terrorist organizations, including Tren De Aragua, a violent Latin American street gang with cells in the United States, while speaking at a press conference in Tampa this week.
In relation, the Florida Legislature passed a bill creating a legal structure for establishing a state-level designation system for terrorist organizations into law earlier this year. The law goes into effect today.
"These are permanent statutory tools to combat terrorism while defending the constitutional rights of our citizens, and we are going to continue to do that. As part of that legislation, it created a process for our state law enforcement to identify groups that can be given this designation," DeSantis said.
The terrorist organizations include:
- Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
- Muslim Brotherhood
- ANITFA
- Cartel de Sinaloa
- Tren de Aragua
- Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran
Notably, the distinctions must be approved by the Florida Cabinet, which Gov. DeSantis said shouldn't be an issue. DeSantis signed an executive order designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations in December 2025.
Soon after, CAIR filed a lawsuit challenging the executive order with a federal judge issuing a preliminary injunction in March. The case is currently being litigated.
"These are things that have very strong factual basis for when the cabinet does ratify these designations. This is going to impact state and local governments in terms of providing funding to any organizations, either directly or that are materially supporting these organizations," DeSantis said.
"It will impact colleges and universities in the state of Florida. It will impact Florida's K-through-12 for School Choice Scholarship Program. We're not sending scholarships to schools that are in cahoots with groups like CAIR. That is not going to happen," DeSantis added.
Gov. DeSantis noted the organizations may be subject to disillusion depending on the "facts and circumstances."
"We've got to draw a very strong line in the sand here. We've seen this creep throughout the country over many, many years," DeSantis said. "I mean, some of the stuff that's happening in other parts of the country, I mean you can't believe what is going on in some of these other parts of the country. We're standing for doing what's right."
Statewide Prosecutor Brad McVay and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner [FDLE] Mark Glass joined DeSantis for the announcement.
"Keeping our community safe starts with identifying the threat," FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass added in a statement."The safety of our community is strengthened by that knowledge every day, and reinforced by the collaboration between our officers, our federal partners, and—most importantly—the people we serve."
