DHS yanks funding from groups with ‘alleged terrorist ties,’ vows more vigorous vetting

Muslim groups with “alleged terrorist ties” have had their funding pulled by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) following a watchdog report connecting grants and the “terror-linked groups.”

A report by the Middle East Forum, which claimed that between 2013 and 2023, DHS and FEMA granted more than $25 million in funding to these groups, prompted a DHS  review of the federal security grants. Those grants would have been funded during the Obama and Biden administrations, as well as during President Trump’s first term in office.

“We take the results of the MEF report very seriously and are thankful for the work of conservative watchdog groups,” a DHS official said, according to Fox News.

“According to a DHS document obtained by Fox News Digital, 49 projects ‘with alleged affiliations to terrorist activities’ have already been canceled, a move the department estimates will save $8 million,” the outlet reported. “The review primarily targets funding distributed through FEMA’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), which provides aid to churches, mosques, synagogues, and other faith-based institutions facing threats of hate-driven violence.”

Among the funding that was flagged in the report was $100,000 to the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Virginia, a grant in 2019 to the “mosque operating as a front for Hamas operatives in the U.S.,” as once described by Customs and Border Protection.

A review of all current and future contracts is now underway by DHS, following the MEF report, and according to officials, there is also an effort to retrieve any funds that have not been spent.

“Funding for fiscal year 2024 has already been allocated. That includes $94 million for 500 Jewish organizations and another $110 million shared among 600 Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jewish institutions,” Fox News noted.

Moving forward, a more “robust” vetting process will be used to screen applicants.

“We don’t want to be empowering groups that could be causing a threat to our community here in the United States,” a DHS official said.

According to Fox News:

The Middle East Forum’s report also highlighted specific cases of funding that it claims went to groups with extremist ties. It said $10.3 million had gone to the Islamic Circle of North America, which the forum alleges is tied to the South Asian Islamist movement Jamaat-e-Islami.

The report further cited $250,000 awarded to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which DHS has accused of having “Hamas ties.” Another $750,000, according to the report, went to mosques in Michigan and Texas that DHS described as “outposts for Iran’s revolutionary brand of Shi’a Islamism,” including the Islamic Center of America and the Islamic House of Wisdom near Detroit, as well as the Islamic Ahlul Bayt Association in Austin.

A spokesperson for the Council on American Islamic Relations clarified that the group does not currently have any federal contracts with DHS.

“While our civil rights organization has no active federal grants that the Department could eliminate or cut, and while the government cannot ban American organizations from receiving federal grants based on their religious affiliation or their criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “it’s important to note that Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security is embarrassing President Trump by making decisions based on the ravings of the Middle East Forum, an Israel First hate website.”

However, Fox News noted that CAIR last week “urged organizations to withdraw from applying for DHS and FEMA grants — including the NSGP — unless DHS drops two new vetting rules.”

Senior Staff Writer
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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