Florida AG puts Coral Springs ‘on notice’ over Muslim event. Here’s what he said
.png "Late last week, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier cautioned Coral Springs officials after they rented the Coral Springs Center for the Arts to the South Florida Muslim Federation for their annual conference, the same location as the 2025 event.")
After City Commissioners said it would be illegal for them to cancel the South Florida Muslim Federation (SFMF) conference at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts, state-level officials have stepped in.
Now, the two-day event’s future hangs in the balance.
According to a statement from the city’s communications director, Lynne Martzall, “City staff met with State Officials regarding the rental agreement with the South Florida Muslim Federation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and will be receiving clarification.”
Joe Kaufman, a Republican candidate for Congress (District 23), has worked to cancel the event every year since 2024. This year, he joined Coral Springs residents to testify at the Jan. 21 City Commission meeting, saying that the event made them feel unsafe.
Members of the commission pushed back.
“I ask you to put your faith before your fear,” said Mayor Scott Brook, referencing his own Jewish faith and reaction to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on an Israeli music festival.
City officials said that, while they heard speakers’ concerns, they had not experienced the issues in past interactions with SFMF — and, more importantly, it would be illegal for them to shut down the conference on the basis of ideology.
“It’s actually state and federal law,” John “JJ” Hearn, the city attorney, told the group, referring to civil rights protections that prevent public institutions from discriminating based on viewpoint.
“The First Amendment is not for the popular opinion, right? It’s for the unpopular,” he added.
Kaufman told the Coral Springs News that after the meeting, he handed local elected officials a packet of research he had done on SFMF and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
When it didn’t result in a change of heart for local elected officials, he went to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
He said he connected with staff in Tallahassee who sent the documents to the governor and Attorney General James Uthmeier.
Then, on Jan. 23, Uthmeier took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and warned city officials about going forward with the Jan. 30-31 conference.
“Coral Springs should remember that state and local resources cannot be used by any organization affiliated with CAIR, which is a designated terrorist organization,” he wrote. “The city commission is on notice.”
State officials did not respond to the Coral Springs News’ request for comment on Jan. 26.
CAIR is fighting a legal battle over the charge and vehemently denies alleged ties to terrorist groups. It has been described as the “Muslim ACLU” by members of the community and has worked to protect citizens’ civil rights since its founding in the 2000s.
The advocacy group’s Florida chapter has been a member of SFMF since its founding. But, on Monday, Jan. 26, the South Florida Muslim Federation released the following statement to the Coral Springs News, stating that the organization is separating from CAIR.
“CAIR-FL has always played an important role protecting the civil rights of Muslims, and we have never observed any conduct on the part of CAIR-FL that would remotely resemble terrorism. That being said, we understand the Governor issued an Executive Order on December 8, 2025 purporting to designate CAIR-FL a ‘foreign terrorist organization.’
“We also understand that CAIR-FL has challenged this designation in Federal Court. While the issue is still pending in Federal Court and in an abundance of caution, we have removed all associations of SFMF with CAIR-FL. And we look to our courts to provide guidance on this in the future.”
This story was originally published January 26, 2026 at 5:10 PM.
