The organization the FBI once cut ties with over terror-financing links was quietly raking in federal dollars — more than $27 million worth — and now HHS is finally investigating how they spent it. The Council on American-Islamic Relations' California affiliate, CAIR-CA, is under the microscope after Texas Rep. Chip Roy and a congressional delegation pulled the fire alarm.
Twenty-seven million dollars. Of your money. Funneled to an outfit whose "longstanding ties to terrorist organizations pose a grave risk to national security," as the delegation put it. But sure, nothing to see here.
Back in April, Roy's delegation called on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to "suspend funding for CAIR-CA and its affiliates and initiate debarment proceedings." That's Washington-speak for "cut them off and ban them from ever getting another dime." And to his credit, HHS actually listened.
HHS Assistant Secretary Gustav Chiarello confirmed that the department "has sub-granted more than $27 million in HHS-originated funds to CAIR-CA" through programs like the Afghan Legal Services Project. Let me repeat that number because it deserves to sit with you. Twenty-seven million dollars.
This isn't some fringe accusation cooked up in a congressional basement. The Intelligent Advocacy Network filed a formal complaint with the DOJ back in March, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review launched its own investigation. So now we've got HHS and DOJ both looking into how CAIR-CA handled federal funds. The swamp drains one investigation at a time.
Roy also co-launched the Sharia-Free America Caucus in the House, which predictably sent Democrats into hysterics. A group of 119 House and Senate Democrats — led by Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina and Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland — rebuked the caucus, clutching their pearls about how "ugly voices are growing louder and threatening to strip away our First Amendment rights."
First Amendment rights. They're defending an organization under federal investigation for misusing taxpayer funds, and they're worried about the caucus that flagged it. Priorities.
CAIR's Director of Government Affairs, Robert McCaw, dismissed the whole thing, calling the caucus a "so-called 'Sharia-Free America Caucus'" and insisting it's "not a serious policy effort." Funny how the people under investigation always think the investigation isn't serious.
Here's the bitter irony. Roy lost his Republican primary runoff in May, meaning he's on his way out of Congress. But the investigation he triggered is very much alive. Sometimes the work outlasts the office.
With the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks coming in September, the timing couldn't be more pointed. We spent two decades talking about never forgetting, and meanwhile an organization with documented ties to terror financing was cashing federal checks to the tune of $27 million. Under Biden, an estimated 18,000 suspected terrorists were released into the country.
Chip Roy saw something rotten and said something. HHS and DOJ are now doing their jobs. That's how it's supposed to work — and it's about time.
