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The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is investigating what happened to $30 million it sent to a Muslim nonprofit to help resettle Afghan refugees in the US, The Post has learned.
The department is the latest to look into the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) amid accusations it has ties to dangerous groups in foreign nations including terror group Hamas.
In letters to the governors of California and Washington, where the $30 million was sent, HHS — headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — claims it has received information that “raises concerns about the business practices and ethics of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and CAIR-California.”
The June 9 letters to the two Democratic governors, written by the agency’s Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources, Gustav Chiarello, says HHS has been informed “there may be connections between CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood and its Palestinian branch, Hamas.
“As you may know, the United States Department of State has designated Hamas a Foreign Terrorist Organization. HHS takes these allegations very seriously as the department may not conduct business with entities with ties to such designated organizations.
The letter goes on to say that the allegations are being investigated and if proven could result in “suspension and proposed debarment.”
The governors of Texas and Florida both designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations in 2025.
Washington, DC headquartered CAIR did not respond to The Post’s request for comment. The group, led by National Executive Director Nihad Awad, strongly denies it has any ties to terror organizations, and says it only operates in the US. It has also denied any ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Approximately 43,000 Afghanis resettled in California between 2016 and 2025 using special humanitarian visas, with Sacramento being the most common area where they went to live, according to data obtained by Abridged.org. Since President Trump returned to office, around 200-300 Afghans a month were being admitted to the US in 2025, a number which has since dropped to zero.
HHS said CAIR-CA’s most recent audit report for 2024 reported recieving $36.45 million from its Office of Refugee Resettlement. In Washington State, HHS said it has traced roughly $1.3 million in allocated to the CAIR-WA chapter from the Washington Department of Social and Health Services.
The US Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review also began a probe last year into the federal funds which CAIR-California was allocated to help resettle Afghan refugees.
The letters sent by HHS urged both California Governor Gavin Newsom and Washington Governor Bob Ferguson to contact the HHS Office of the Inspector General “if you are aware of any fraud or violations of relevant regulations governing the management of funds subgranted to CAIR.”
CAIR says it has provided legal services to over 1,800 Afghan nationals using its grants in California.
In his statement designating CAIR as a terror group last year, Texas gov. Greg Abbott accused them of supporting terrorism and being “radical extremists” who aim to “subvert our laws through violence, intimidation and harassment.”
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