Naming the Enemy Within Homeland Security Act
Key claim: HR5823 would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to prohibit DHS from providing any assistance to or engaging with organizations or individuals associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, using the Holy Land Foundation unindicted co-conspirator list as a baseline.
Abstract
(HR5823 · 114th Congress) Naming the Enemy Within Homeland Security Act This bill amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to prohibit the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from providing any financial or other assistance or advice to, or otherwise engaging with, organizations associated with the Muslim Brotherhood or any individual or other person determined by DHS to be associated with it. DHS shall treat each person or entity named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation , any other organization that is a successor to such person, and any individual determined to be associated with such organizations as a person associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. Latest action (2016-08-02): Referred to the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.
Why this matters
The bill would statutorily lock in a specific unindicted co-conspirator list as the baseline for identifying entities DHS may not engage with, converting a prosecutorial artifact into an ongoing federal engagement blacklist. That has direct practical effects on Muslim-American civic and advocacy organizations’ access to DHS grants, briefings, and community partnerships, and raises civil-rights questions about religious association, due process for designation, and the durability of guilt-by-association designations without an adjudicatory process.