Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed Executive Order 25-244 — an order that invokes state terrorism statutes, gang laws, and “foreign country of concern” provisions to suggest that Muslim civil rights organizations, including CAIR-Florida, may be treated as “terrorist organizations.”

Let’s be precise about what this order actually does and does not do. Under federal law, only the U.S. Secretary of State has the authority to designate Foreign Terrorist Organizations. A state governor does not have that power. Executive Order 25-244 therefore has no legal standing under federal law and cannot create a terrorism designation recognized in federal criminal law, immigration law, or national security policy. It is, in the language of lawyers preparing to challenge it, a political stunt dressed in legal language.

But political stunts with official signatures have real consequences. They create a climate. They signal to law enforcement, to employers, to landlords, to neighbors, and to anyone inclined toward anti-Muslim violence that the governor of Florida has marked certain Muslim organizations as threats. The paper may be legally hollow. The harm it enables is not.

The accusations in EO 25-244 distort decades of public record and echo conspiracy theories that have been debunked repeatedly in courts and independent investigations. CAIR-Florida has operated in the state for more than two decades — defending constitutional rights, challenging discrimination, and partnering with faith communities, law enforcement, and civil society organizations. It has never been designated by the federal government as a terrorist organization. It has no ties to any foreign government or entity.

“The accusations in EO 25-244 distort CAIR’s work and echo long-debunked conspiracy theories used by anti-Muslim hate groups,” United Voices said. “The governor’s claims contradict CAIR’s decades of public service, legal advocacy, and cooperation with government agencies and civil rights partners.”

Legal challenges are being prepared. But lawsuits take time, and in the interim, the order is in effect — and Florida’s Muslim community is living under a governor who has officially associated their civil rights organizations with terrorism. United Voices is calling on every member of the Florida Legislature and Florida’s Congressional delegation to publicly reject EO 25-244, affirm the constitutional rights of Muslim Floridians, and make clear that using the power of the governor’s office to stigmatize a religious community’s advocacy organizations is an abuse of that office.

Silence from elected officials is not neutrality. In this moment, it is endorsement. Florida’s Muslim community — its lawyers, its students, its families, its worshippers — deserves elected representatives who will say plainly: this order is wrong, it is unconstitutional, and it will not stand.