Following two recent terrorist attacks on American soil — one killing a young couple outside the Jewish Museum in D.C., and another firebombing elderly Jews in Colorado — several high-profile politicians have called for the Council on American Islamic Relations to be designated as a terrorist organization.

Why is this? CAIR presents itself as a civil rights organization, but it has a longstanding association with Hamas, for which "ample evidence" was cited in a court ruling unsealed in 2010. CAIR was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case, the largest foreign terror financing case in U.S. history.

This may not be enough on its own for the terrorism designation that those politicians called for, but it is enough that the government should not be conferring special privileges, influence and legitimacy upon CAIR’s most powerful state affiliate, CAIR-California.

Since 2015, CAIR-California has enjoyed a special designation that allows non-lawyers on CAIR’s staff to represent clients in immigration proceedings. This accreditation also qualifies CAIR-California to receive certain government funding. This status is a privilege, not a right. According to federal regulations, Executive Office of Immigration Review accreditation is reserved for........

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