Guests - Donine Henshaw, Juan Ciscomani, Betsy Smith
Arizona Legislature Signals Strong Support for Designating Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as Terrorist Organizations
On a packed Thursday morning at the Arizona House Committee on Federalism, Military Affairs, and Elections, two House Continuing Memorials (HCM 2001 and HCM 2002) passed out of committee on a straight 4–3 party-line vote. The non-binding resolutions urge the U.S. Congress and the Secretary of State to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as foreign terrorist organizations.
Committee Chairman Rep. John Gillette (R-HD 30), a retired Army Command Sergeant Major, presided over the contentious hearing. Supporters described the measures as symbolic but important signals of Arizona’s position, especially as Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly evaluates both entities for similar designations. Several Muslim advocacy groups, CAIR representatives, and allied organizations filled both the hearing room and an overflow space, vastly outnumbering the handful of speakers who testified in favor.
Anti-Islam activist Donine Henshaw was one of only three people to speak in support of the resolutions. In studio with host Kathleen Winn later that morning, Henshaw described the atmosphere as highly charged and recounted her personal testimony.
“I said, you might not be at war with Islam, but Islam is at war with you,” Henshaw told Winn. “I went on to talk about my experiences in Italy and also the importance of… designating CAIR and Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations… so that we can start to unravel the Islamification of the United States.”
Henshaw shared a formative experience from 2009 when she studied in Florence, Italy, during a time when the North African and Arab Muslim population was roughly 4 percent. She described daily verbal sexual harassment on public buses that she said was directed at her because she was a tall, fair-skinned non-Muslim woman.
“I was subjected to the most shockingly vile, obscene harassment that you can imagine… That was my daily reality.”
After her testimony, Henshaw said a Muslim man seated nearby cursed her in Arabic as she returned to her seat—behavior she viewed as proving her point about intimidation tactics inside the hearing room itself. She also reported that Chairman Gillette arranged for her to leave the building through a secure interior hallway with a male security escort after the hearing, citing safety concerns. She said one of the men who had been seated near her followed the group to the parking lot.
Henshaw repeatedly framed Islam not as a religion but as “a terrorist political ideology of conquest, subjugation, and oppression” whose ultimate goal, she argued, is to transform the United States into part of a global caliphate. She pointed to the United Arab Emirates’ 2014 designation of CAIR as a terrorist group and to political patterns she believes are already visible in Dearborn, Michigan, and parts of Minnesota and Europe.
“Europe and the United Kingdom are 10 to 20 years ahead of us on the Islamification… If you don’t want your daughters and granddaughters… to be harassed on a daily basis… then you’ve got to understand the enemy that is in front of us.”
Appropriations Update – Apache Helicopters, Border Security, and Faith-Based Homelessness Funding
Later in the program, U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-06) joined Winn by phone from Washington to discuss the just-completed fiscal year 2026 appropriations process. Ciscomani, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, highlighted several Arizona-relevant wins and broader policy shifts now that Republicans control the White House, House, and Senate.
Boeing’s Mesa facility will receive $360 million for additional AH-64E Apache Guardian helicopters plus $44 million for future development.
The military pay raise continues, shipbuilding receives priority, and recruitment/DEI mandates from the prior administration have been stripped out.
Homeland Security funding is actually reduced overall because border traffic has dropped more than 95 percent since the new administration took office; money previously spent on shelter-and-services programs is being redirected (e.g., to Coast Guard and Secret Service needs).
Transportation and housing dollars are being steered toward faith-based organizations that demonstrate results rather than city bureaucracies that, in Ciscomani’s view, have shown little progress on homelessness despite large prior grants.
Oro Valley is slated to receive approximately $7 million for bridge reconstruction as part of community project funding.
Ciscomani emphasized that the end of continuing resolutions (CRs) funded under the prior Biden budget marks a major change.
“This will be our first Republican budget with the House, the Senate, and the president that we all agreed on… It cuts spending, wasteful stuff… reprioritizes where we need to be investing the money.”
He stressed accountability: funding this year does not guarantee funding next year, and he trusts the current Trump administration far more than its predecessor to manage the dollars appropriately.
Tucson’s Proposed Non-Cooperation with ICE Draws Sharp Criticism
In the program’s final segment, Kathleen Winn was joined by Betsy Brantner Smith, spokesperson for the National Police Association, for an extended discussion on public safety and immigration enforcement.
The conversation centered on a recent Tucson City Council work session in which members expressed intent to prohibit ICE from using any city-owned property. Smith and Winn argued that the posturing endangers both citizens and law enforcement by fueling hysteria and misinformation.
“ICE is already here,” Smith said. “They’ve never left… Pima County is part of the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector—one of the largest, if not the largest and busiest… sectors in the nation.”
She pointed to recent incidents—including a New York City hospital staff initially refusing treatment to injured NYPD detectives because they mistakenly believed the officers were ICE agents—and local confusion in Marana where residents mistook Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers for ICE personnel.
Both women stressed that ICE targets individuals who have committed serious crimes (sexual assault, child rape, drug trafficking, DUI homicide), not ordinary residents. They criticized Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes for reportedly calling ICE “not legitimate law enforcement” and warned that anti-ICE rhetoric ultimately undermines all law enforcement.
“We need to let the Pima County Board of Supervisors, our mayor and her office, and our Sheriff’s Department and Tucson Police Department… know that as citizens and as taxpayers, we want them to cooperate with federal law enforcement officers,” Smith said.
The segment closed with a call for residents to stay informed, push back against what they described as orchestrated hysteria, and support officers who are carrying out federal law.
Winn Tucson airs weekday mornings on 1030 The Voice.