Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa plans to reverse the state’s designation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a foreign terrorist group and a transnational criminal organization.

The FTO designation, which was issued by outgoing Republican Gov. Greg Abbott last November, banned the group from buying or acquiring land in the state and allowed Texas’ attorney general to sue to shut the organization down. 

Abbott’s declaration described the group as a “successor organization” to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the governor designated as a FTO at the same time, and, in effect, a front group for Hamas in the United States. It pointed to the group being an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas financing case and noted that a series of senior CAIR members had been involved in promoting or financing terrorism. The declaration also accused CAIR of seeking to spread Sharia law in the country by infiltrating public office and other areas of public life.

Speaking to The Washington Post from the Texas state Capitol on Friday, Hinojosa, a Democrat, said she will remove the state’s FTO designation against CAIR.

“We have to use public safety measures for public safety,” Hinojosa told the outlet of her decision, dismissing Abbott’s handling of the issue as “nonsense happening with power that should be used for public safety, money that [we] should use for public safety, that is not being used for safety.”

During Abbott’s tenure as governor, Texas became heavily focused on anti-Sharia law efforts, with the outgoing governor passing several bills through the state legislature designed to impede a project to develop a new Muslim-focused community, known as EPIC City, in the state. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate, also filed several lawsuits and spearheaded investigations aimed at blocking the project from moving ahead. At the time, the Justice Department investigated the project for religious discrimination, though DOJ officials ended the probe after finding no wrongdoing. 

It is not clear if Hinojosa also plans to revoke Abbott’s FTO declaration against the Muslim Brotherhood, a move some lawmakers have been struggling to push on the federal level. Hinojosa’s transition team spokesperson did not immediately respond to Jewish Insider’s request for comment. 

Jewish Insider senior congressional correspondent Marc Rod contributed to this report.