The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is reviewing federal security grants provided to Muslim groups with “alleged terrorist ties” following a report linking past funding to organizations labeled as “extremist.”
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 review focuses on funding distributed through FEMA’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), which offers financial support to churches, mosques, synagogues, and other faith-based institutions facing threats of hate-driven violence.
The scrutiny follows a report by the Middle East Forum, a pro-Israel conservative think tank, which claims that over $25 million in DHS and FEMA grants were awarded to “terror-linked groups” between 2013 and 2023.
A DHS official confirmed that the department is conducting its own independent review but emphasized, “We take the results of the MEF report very seriously and are thankful for the work of conservative watchdog groups.”
The report specifically flagged a $100,000 grant in 2019 to the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Virginia, which Customs and Border Protection previously described as a “mosque operating as a front for Hamas operatives in the U.S.,” according to records obtained by the Investigative Project through the Freedom of Information Act.
In response to these findings, DHS is reviewing all current and future contracts to ensure that funds are not awarded to such organizations. Officials also said the department is exploring ways to recover unspent funds.
Funding for fiscal year 2024 has already been allocated, including $94 million for 500 Jewish organizations and another $110 million distributed among 600 Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jewish institutions.
For fiscal year 2025, DHS said applicants will face stricter requirements to ensure a “robust” vetting process.
“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 stated.
The Middle East Forum report also highlighted specific cases of funding it claims went to groups with extremist ties. It noted that $10.3 million went to the Islamic Circle of North America, which the forum alleges is connected to the South Asian Islamist movement Jamaat-e-Islami.
Additionally, $250,000 was reported to have been awarded to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which DHS has accused of having “Hamas ties.” The report also listed $750,000 going to mosques in Michigan and Texas described by DHS as “outposts for Iran’s revolutionary brand of Shi’a Islamism,” including the Islamic Center of America, the Islamic House of Wisdom near Detroit, and the Islamic Ahlul Bayt Association in Austin.
CAIR told Fox News Digital that it currently has no active 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,” a CAIR spokesperson said, “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.”
FEMA has previously collaborated with CAIR, holding seminars to encourage participation in the NSGP program.
Last week, CAIR urged organizations to refrain from applying for DHS and FEMA grants — including the NSGP — unless DHS drops two new vetting rules. These provisions require recipients to cooperate with immigration officials and prohibit them from running programs tied to diversity, equity, inclusion, or aid to undocumented immigrants, as well as from engaging in certain “discriminatory prohibited boycotts.”
