South Dakota government agencies would have to cut ties — if any exist — with the country’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group under a bill backed by a dozen state legislators.
Sen. Stace Nelson, R-Fulton, brought a resolution calling for state government and law enforcement officials to suspend and avoid communication with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
The organization does not have an office or a registered lobbyist in South Dakota.
“It’s important that we as lawmakers and the people of South Dakota become aware of the real present threat that this organization presents to South Dakotans and the United States,” Nelson said Tuesday.
Nelson said he was concerned about CAIR’s possible connection to terrorist groups and its role in helping refugees resettle in the United States.
In 2014, CAIR was among more than 80 groups designated as terrorist groups by the United Arab Emirates. CAIR called the move by UAE “bizarre” and unfounded, and the U.S. State Department has said it does not consider CAIR a terrorist organization.
The resolution would not create new legislation, but could guide future policy making. Senate leaders assigned the resolution to the Senate State Affairs Committee, but it has not yet been scheduled for a hearing.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for CAIR, said the group has seen similar resolutions and bills across the country. He said the group planned to send a letter to Senate President Pro Tempore Brock Greenfield laying out the serious problems in the measure.
Hooper said the measure could be deemed unconstitutional if it prevented law enforcement officers from assisting Muslims or if it blocked the civil rights of Muslim South Dakotans.
“This is just symptomatic of the larger Islamophobia in our nation,” he said in a telephone interview. “It’s another attempt to marginalize American Muslims through an attack on their civil liberties and free expression.”