Concern Over CAIR Training for Illegal Immigrants to Resist ICE

CAIR's ICE resistance workshops raise concerns about aiding undocumented immigrants and those possibly on terror watchlists, with the group's past ties to terror funding and financial issues.

Credit: NizNellie3 on X

The Council on American‑Islamic Relations (CAIR) chapter in Greater LA is actively advertising “Emergency ICE First Responder Training’” workshops designed to assist undocumented immigrants in countering U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with the next event taking place on June 9^th in an undisclosed location in Anaheim, CA. These sessions, which CAIR describes as "legal aid," may inadvertently help individuals, including those on terrorism watchlists, evade federal enforcement actions.

CAIR’s stated goal of the event is training individuals, regardless of their experience, to become Rapid Response First Responders to ICE arrests, promoting the event under the hashtag #abolishICE. CAIR maintains that it is simply providing educational resources to protect civil liberties during ICE operations. ICE’s operations, however, are in accordance with American law, enforcing federal immigration laws without racial or religious bias.

Terror Concerns

Concerns over national security and support of ICE has been on the rise, particularly following a November 2024 report which exposed that 99 individuals who were on terrorism watchlists, had been intercepted at the U.S.-Mexico border and released into the United States between 2021-2023. This raises significant concerns around the training sessions given CAIR's historical ties to individuals and organizations connected to terrorism.

Founded in 1994, CAIR has faced ongoing scrutiny for its alleged connections to Hamas. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice identified CAIR and its founders as unindicted co-conspirators in the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), which was convicted of funneling over $12 million to Hamas. While CAIR has never been formally charged, these legal associations led to the suspension of FBI cooperation with the group in 2008, with officials warning that CAIR acted as a "front group for Hamas."

The organization’s Executive Director, Nihad Awad cofounded CAIR after he concluded his role as the Director of Public Relations of IAP (Islamic Association of Palestine), which was convicted for providing material support for terrorism in the United States.

Credit: DOJ website

Potential Security Risks

Considering this, security analysts have raised alarms that CAIR’s public ICE evasion workshops could become a “training ground” for undocumented individuals, including those on terrorism watchlists, to avoid detection or arrest. Under U.S. law (18 U.S.C. § 2339A/B), providing organized training to individuals intending to assist a Foreign Terrorist Organization is illegal, even if the training is framed as legal aid.

According to a press release from the House Oversight Committee in 2023, Chairman James Comer (R–KY) stated, “Terrorists and other bad actors will attempt to exploit weaknesses in border security and vetting procedures to infiltrate the United States. We fear these known gotaways could also include illegal aliens with terrorist ties,” As ICE continues to try to apprehend such actors, CAIR Greater LA continues to host workshops to empower individuals to resist them.

Allegations of CAIR Greater LA Corruption

CAIR Greater LA’s ICE evasion event comes as the chapter recently made headlines when the Intelligent Advocacy Network(IAN) filed a complaint with the DOJ, alleging that over $7.2 million in US taxpayer-funded grants intended for immigration-related legal services for refugees were misallocated to the unregistered local California chapter of CAIR- the Greater LA branch.

The branch is not registered as a nonprofit and therefore is not able to receive such funds. Furthermore, the lack of nonprofit status means the branch is not held accountable for fund transparency. It is currently unclear whether these misallocated funds are being used for the June 9^th workshop. The event, however, may raise additional scrutiny if misallocated federal grants are being used to train individuals to resist American government entities.