The US Department of Health and Human Services has opened an investigation into the Council on American-Islamic Relations and its California branch over what happened to $30 million meant to help resettle Afghan refugees in the United States. The June 9 letters, sent by HHS and signed for the department headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., say the agency is examining allegations that could lead to suspension and proposed debarment if proved.
HHS said the information it received raises concerns about the business practices and ethics of CAIR and CAIR-California, and the letters say there may be connections between the group and the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as Hamas. CAIR has strongly denied any ties to terror organizations or the Muslim Brotherhood and says it operates only in the United States.
The money at the center of the inquiry is not a small accounting issue. HHS said CAIR-CA’s most recent audit report for 2024 showed it received $36.45 million from the department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. The department also said it has traced roughly $1.3 million allocated to the CAIR-WA chapter from the Washington Department of Social and Health Services. Separate documents first obtained by the Intelligent Advocacy Network said more than $40 million in federal HHS refugee funds were granted to CAIR-CA through the California Department of Social Services.
The letters were sent to California Governor Gavin Newsom and Washington Governor Bob Ferguson, whom HHS urged to contact the department’s Office of the Inspector General if they have relevant information. The inquiry lands at a time when Afghan resettlement money is under fresh scrutiny, especially in California, where roughly 43,000 Afghanis resettled in 2016 and 2025 using special humanitarian visas.
That broader scrutiny is part of the friction around the case. The US Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review began a probe last year into federal funds allocated to CAIR-California to help resettle Afghan refugees, and the department now says it is looking at both the financing and the organization itself. HHS did not spell out in the letters what specific evidence triggered the investigation, leaving the central question of how the funds were handled still unresolved.
For now, the stakes are clear: if HHS backs up the allegations, the department could move toward suspension and proposed debarment, cutting off future business with an organization it says may be tied to groups the State Department has designated as terrorist organizations. The investigation also comes as California and Washington face questions over how refugee resettlement money moved through state systems, and whether the nonprofit at the center of it can keep defending its records while federal scrutiny deepens.
