The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is reviewing whether the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) misused federal grants intended for Afghan refugees. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the review on June 9, 2026. It covers CAIR National and its California and Washington affiliates.
The review followed an April 27 letter from Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and 13 other House Republicans urging HHS to suspend CAIR and begin debarment proceedings to bar it from federal grants government-wide. Under federal regulations, debarment generally lasts no more than three years, though the debarring official may impose a longer period if circumstances warrant.
CAIR describes itself as the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization. Concerns about the group stem largely from the federal prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation, a Texas charity accused of funneling more than $12 million to Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. In 2008, five former officials were convicted on 108 counts.
Prosecutors named CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator. U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis denied its request to remove its name from the list. In a July 2009 order, he wrote that the government had produced “ample evidence” establishing CAIR’s associations with the Holy Land Foundation, the Islamic Association for Palestine, and Hamas. Ghassan Elashi, a CAIR-Texas figure, was among those convicted and was sentenced to 65 years for financing terrorism.
In April 2009, the FBI said it had suspended formal contacts with CAIR and would not treat it as a liaison partner until it could resolve whether the group or its executives remained connected to Hamas. CAIR denies any ties to terrorism.
CAIR is not the only Islamist organization to receive HHS funding. A July 2026 Middle East Forum audit identified 14 organizations it describes as Islamist or terror-linked that received $79 million in HHS funding since 2010. According to the audit, 87 percent, about $68.5 million, was awarded between 2022 and 2025. Federal award records show that at least eight received funding during the Biden administration, while four foreign recipients received money through awards signed before 2021. Each of the 14 groups is examined below.
CAIR chapters received about $42.2 million in HHS-funded Afghan resettlement grants through state agencies and private organizations since July 2022. This included $40.7 million for CAIR-California and about $1.5 million for chapters in Washington and Oklahoma.
