DHS reviews Biden-era grants to ‘terror-linked’ groups
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is reviewing and canceling grants previously awarded to certain groups alleged to have links to foreign terrorist organizations. According to a report by the Middle East Forum, from 2013 to 2023, DHS approved around $25 million in grants to organizations with documented ties to extremist groups. Following the report, DHS cut $8 million in funding and initiated an independent review of these grants.
Many of the contested funds were distributed through FEMA’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which aims to help religious organizations protect against hate-driven violence. Groups flagged include the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center, linked internally by DHS to Hamas and terrorist financiers, the Islamic Center of America, associated with support for Hezbollah, and other mosques with alleged extremist connections. Some recipients also included organizations with ties to Al-Qaeda, Iranian government affiliates, and extremist teachings such as the Nation of Islam.
DHS is now seeking to halt current and future funding to these entities and explore recovering unspent funds. A DHS official emphasized the importance of not empowering groups posing threats to U.S. communities. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR),also mentioned in connection with alleged Hamas ties,stated it has no active federal contracts with DHS and criticized the department’s actions as politically motivated.
DHS has not issued a formal public response to requests for comment on the matter.
DHS reviews Biden-era grants to ‘terror-linked’ groups
In July, the Middle East Forum released a report claiming that the Department of Homeland Security had approved $25 million between 2013 and 2023 to groups with “documented links to foreign terrorist organizations.” Within a month, DHS moved to cancel and review grants made out to those groups.
DHS documents, first reported on by Fox News Digital, indicate the agency has cut $8 million worth of grants, with one official saying that, although the agency is conducting an independent review, it took the report from the Middle East Forum “very seriously.” The Middle East Forum’s report highlighted DHS grants provided to organizations such as the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center, which DHS’s internal document flagged as linked to Hamas and terrorist financiers, and the Islamic Center of America, whose congregants regularly express support for Hezbollah.
The bulk of the grants awarded to what the Middle East Forum described as “terror-linked and extremist groups” was disbursed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which is intended to provide religious organizations with resources to guard against hate-driven violence.
Other organizations that the Middle East Forum alleges have terror or extremist links and have received funding from DHS included the Al Furqaan Foundation, which received $1.6 million worth of Qurans from an an Al-Qaeda-linked charity, mosques tied to the Iranian government, the Islamic Center of San Diego, which was linked to the 9/11 terrorist attacks by a congressional inquiry, mosques whose congregants regularly praise terrorists, and Masjid Muhammad, a place of worship belonging to the Nation of Islam — a heretical sect of African American Islam which teaches that whites are an evil race created by a mad wizard named Yakub.
In addition to reviewing current and future contracts to cut off funding to groups with ties to terrorism or extremism, DHS is also exploring ways to retrieve unspent funds distributed to those organizations.
“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 told Fox.
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The Council on American Islamic Relations, which DHS has accused of having “Hamas ties,” says it no longer has active 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,” a CAIR spokesperson told Fox, “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.”
DHS did not respond to a request for comment.
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