On November 24, US President Donald Trump began a process to legally label some chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Although the Muslim Brotherhood is a global organizations, which includes inside America, this specific order addresses chapters in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt engaged in or facilitating and supporting violence and destabilization campaigns that harm their own regions, United States citizens, and United States interests.
However, the exact wording of the Whitehouse statement leaves it open to perhaps include domestic chapters in the future: any Muslim Brotherhood chapters or other subdivisions, including those in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt, as foreign terrorist organizations.
The main focus is to cut off the funding networks which support terrorism.
Jordan, a key ally of the US, and sharing a peace treaty with their neighbor Israel, has long suffered from attacks, violence and instability caused by the Muslim Brotherhood. Trumps decree is in response to Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Jordan providing funding to Hamas and the Lebanese branch of the group, known as al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, and siding with Hamas and Hezbollah in their war with Israel.
An Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader is accused of calling for violent attacks against the US and their allies and interests during the Israeli war on Gaza.
President Trump is confronting the Muslim Brotherhoods transnational network, which fuels terrorism and destabilization campaigns against US interests and allies in the Middle East, the White House said.
Besides making it illegal to provide material support to the group, it would also ban current and former members from entering the US, and enable economic sanctions to cut-off their financial networks.
The Muslim Brotherhood has branches across the Middle East disguised as political parties and social organizations.
Muslim American groups or individual activists may find themselves under scrutiny after this decree on allegations of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood or contributions to charities affiliated with the group.
There have been numerous trials and accusations in the US concerning Islamic organizations accused of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott designated both the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations.
CAIR is the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has been linked in legal investigations to the Muslim Brotherhood.
As of 2012, the city of Houston has the largest Muslim population in Texas and the largest Muslim population in the Southern United States.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Republican, had introduced previous legislation four times in an attempt to outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood. In July, he introduced the current bill S.2293, the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025, in the 119th Congress (2025-2026). It was read twice and referred to the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate.
Senator Ashley Moody joined Cruz to introduce the act and said, The Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act is common sense legislation that will declare the Muslim Brotherhood, a group known to seek widespread hate against Christians, Jews and other religious groups, a foreign terrorist organization.
Senator Ted Cruz said, The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization, and it provides support to Muslim Brotherhood branches that are terrorist organizations. One of those branches is Hamas, American allies in the Middle East and Europe have already labeled the Brotherhood a terrorist organization, and the United States should do the same, and do so expeditiously.
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