Trump Administration Weighs Executive Order Targeting Non-Profits Over Terror Ties
The US administration is weighing an executive order to designate certain non-profits as terror-linked, potentially freezing their tax-exempt status and halting operations.
The administration of US President Donald Trump is considering a presidential executive order that would designate several non-profit organizations as having ties to terrorism, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The move would instantly freeze their tax-exempt status and potentially paralyze their operations.
Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee have already begun forwarding names of organizations to the Internal Revenue Service for investigations regarding alleged foreign terror links. For instance, Texas Governor Greg Abbott urged the Treasury Department late last year to suspend the tax exemption of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, alleging ties to terror networks—an allegation the organization vehemently denies.
According to sources familiar with the matter, administration officials have been working on the executive order for months, though a final decision has not yet been reached. The measure would invoke section 501(p) of the Internal Revenue Code, an untested provision that would significantly tighten government oversight over tax-exempt entities. Reports indicate the initiative could also target political opponents of the president.
Designating organizations as terrorism-linked would impose immediate and severe sanctions, bypassing the traditionally slow enforcement procedures typically employed by the IRS. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted in July that authorities are actively investigating cases where tax-exempt status was allegedly exploited to fund foreign influence operations or allow violence.
