[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 57 (Thursday, March 26, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H2761-H2767]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SHARIA-FREE AMERICA
(Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Self of
Texas was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority
leader.
General Leave
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on the topic of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleagues from the
Sharia-Free America Caucus, which my good friend and fellow Texan
Congressman Chip Roy and I proudly co-chair.
Just today, we added our 60th member. I am delighted to announce that
the caucus now has representation from 25 States across the United
States, which is half of all the States in this Union.
America was founded on a timeless principle, individual freedom
secured by self-government under our clear and supreme rule of
constitutional law.
As John Adams warned: ``Our Constitution was made only for a moral
and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any
other.''
Today, we witness the painful truth of those words. Multitudes arrive
at our borders with no intention of assimilating into our culture or
embracing the founding principles of liberty under the U.S.
Constitution.
The clash is not new. In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams asked
the Ambassador from Tripoli why his nation attacked peaceful countries
with no provocation. He replied that it was their right and duty under
their laws of the prophet and the Koran to make war on all who do not
acknowledge Islamic authority to enslave prisoners and that every
fighter slain would go to paradise.
This was then and remains today a stark contrast of civilizations,
one rooted in submission and domination, the other in individual
liberty under constitutional law.
Sharia poses a unique and profound danger. It is far more than a
personal faith. It is a comprehensive system of governance, culture,
and domination that enforces submission through violence.
All cultures are not morally equivalent. Whereas, Christianity is the
religion of peace, reconciliation, and love, Islam is a religion of the
sword. It stands in direct irreconcilable conflict with a maximum
individual freedom at the heart of Western civilization and our Judeo-
Christian heritage.
Our rights derive from our creator, not from any man-made supremacist
code. America gladly welcomes those who come to assimilate and worship
freely according to conscience, but we must never accommodate a system
that demands the submission of every surrounding society. And sharia
explicitly requires precisely that.
The evidence is mounting right here in my home State, the Lone Star
State. In my own Congressional District, Texas' Third District, the
East Plano Islamic Center, one of the largest mosques in north Texas,
already operates a sharia-adherent enclave in Plano. This is not merely
a house of worship. It serves as the foundation for something far more
troubling.
The same organization spearheaded a proposed 400-plus acre
residential development in unincorporated Collin and Hunt Counties near
Josephine originally called EPIC City now rebranded as The Meadow to
deflect scrutiny and confusion over its separatist intent.
Marketed as a Muslim-centric community, it was designed around
sharia-adherent living, over 1,000 homes, a new mosque, a K-12 school,
and other facilities tailored to enforce submission rather than
assimilation.
Both the existing EPIC enclave and this affiliated project are
abominations that threaten American principles of equality, individual
liberty, and the rule of law.
We have seen alarming incidents of Muslim intimidation. An imam in
Dallas called the police on a fellow Muslim for merely speaking to a
Christian pastor. Another in Houston captured on video threatening to
occupy noncompliant businesses under sharia.
Texas is seeing explosive growth with roughly 48 new mosques in just
the last 2 years.
That is why on March 3, Texas Republicans overwhelmingly passed
proposition 10 with 95 percent support, a clear mandate to ban sharia
in our State.
Texans have spoken: American law only. No foreign ideology should
make Americans feel like foreigners in their own country. Texas stands
as ground zero in this fight. Yet, this is not just a Texas issue.
Sharia's influence is advancing from Arizona to Minnesota to Alabama,
Florida, and beyond. No State is immune. That is why our caucus has
surged to 60 members across 25 States bolstered by strong Senate
support from figures like Senator Tuberville.
As I have said repeatedly, sharia has no place in America. Do not
sharia our America. Defend the West. Ban sharia.
The urgency of this fight was laid bare in the opening days of March
when a disturbing wave of Islamist-inspired attacks struck our soil. On
March 1, in Austin, a gunman opened fire outside a downtown bar,
killing three innocent young Americans and wounding more than a dozen
others. The Islamist terrorist, a naturalized citizen from Senegal with
prior arrests, wore a sweatshirt proclaiming: ``Property of Allah,'' an
undershirt bearing an Iranian flag, and left a Koran in his vehicle.
[[Page H2762]]
This was no isolated act.
March has seen multiple incidents linked to Islamist extremism: a
failed ISIS-inspired bombing attempt outside Gracie Mansion in New York
City on March 7; a vehicle ramming and a shootout at a synagogue in
Michigan on March 12, injuring dozens; and an ISIS-inspired shooting at
Old Dominion University in Virginia that same day, targeting ROTC
members and claiming one life.
{time} 1700
These attacks, clustered in a single month, underscore a chilling
reality: The enemy is inside the gate, driven by a supremacist ideology
that claims divine authority over our Constitution and justifies
violence against those who refuse submission.
Nowhere in this ideology is it more barbaric than its treatment of
women. Under sharia, women are relegated to second-class status. It
explicitly permits wife beating as discipline. Imams have preached that
women feel honored by beatings, or liken them to livestock, cows,
sheep, horses, and mules, created solely for men's use.
Sharia codifies female genital mutilation, forced child marriage,
honor killings, half inheritance for women, and testimony worth half
that of a man.
Its nations enforce these rules, from Iran's reign of terror to
places where adultery brings stoning, apostasy brings death or public
floggings, and men and women live in slavery.
Even more horrifying, sharia permits the rape and enslavement of non-
Muslim women, with some scholars openly declaring it permissible under
the Koran and hadith. These are not fringe opinions. They are preached
publicly, and they are infiltrating Western Civilization.
If you don't believe this is happening, Mr. Speaker, then tell that
to the thousands of British teenage girls groomed, plied with alcohol,
gang-raped by Muslim gangs, and then arrested by police for being drunk
while their rapists go free.
Let me repeat: The victims are arrested. This is sharia. Sharia does
not content itself with private practice. It demands eventual dominance
over the host culture. Look at France and the U.K., Mr. Speaker, where
unchecked immigration has eroded heritage, culture, and freedoms. We
cannot allow that fate here in the United States.
According to Islam, many non-Muslims like me are regarded as
infidels, and Muslims who convert to Christianity or any other faith
are apostates, punishable by death under Islam.
As Karl Popper wisely cautioned: ``Unlimited tolerance must lead to
the disappearance of tolerance.'' Mr. Speaker, we must claim the right
to not tolerate the intolerant.
Sharia embodies that intolerance, rejecting free speech, equal
rights, and constitutional supremacy. We must reject it in turn.
Legislation alone cannot halt this creeping threat. Congress has a
sworn duty to act. Seven bills stand ready to ban sharia's influence
regarding immigration and legal systems, deporting adherents who
promote it, designating the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as terrorist
organizations, strengthening vetting, advancing the PAUSE Act to stop
all immigration, and ensuring no court ever considers sharia or any
foreign religious code.
Mr. Speaker, the American people demand that we defend the
Constitution against ideology seeking to supplant it and replace it.
That is why Congressman Roy and I founded this caucus. It has grown
rapidly because patriots nationwide are awakening.
Mr. Speaker, I urge every colleague, Republican or Democrat, who
believes in American sovereignty to join the Sharia-Free America Caucus
today. Let us stand firm: one nation, one Constitution, and one rule of
law.
Sharia has no place in America.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber).
Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
He is on the right track. When I was in the Texas House, we were
already being concerned about that.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today on something that ought to go without
saying, but here we are. In the United States of America, as my
colleague so eloquently pointed out, there is one law of the land: the
Constitution of the United States, period--not foreign law, not some
imported systems, not, if I can be a little backward, not nothing else,
Mr. Speaker, not anything else, period.
That is why I am proud to stand with my fellow Texan, Congressman
Keith Self, and support the Sharia-Free America Caucus.
Let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, this is not new for me. I already said
back in the Texas House in 2009 through 2012 that it was a problem. We
knew it. I tried to get a bill in that actually the chairman of the
committee wouldn't take, stating that no court in the State of Texas
could use sharia law as a legal basis, none. Yet, he said: Oh, you
don't need to fight that battle yet.
That was in 2019. I am afraid we have waited way too long. I led the
fight against sharia law back then from ever taking root in our courts.
I am so glad that Keith Self, along with Chip Roy, has put this caucus
together.
I knew where it was headed back then, and here we are today. Now, we
are seeing examples that should wake the folks up who claim to be woke.
In Irving, Texas, Mr. Speaker, you see a neighborhood developed by
Hamra Homes with street names like Ali Akbar Court, Salma Jameel Court,
and Hasina Drive, all built around a mosque.
Folks can live however they want to and however they choose. That is
America. But hear me clearly: You don't bring a separate legal system
into the United States of America, not on my watch, not now, not ever.
We are one nation under one Constitution with one standard of law
that applies equally to every single American. That is what the Sharia-
Free America Caucus is all about. It is about drawing a line, standing
firm, and saying that we will not compromise on the foundation of this
country--not now, not then, and not ever.
We are founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and that is what we are
going to keep it on. We will defend our Constitution, and we will keep
America America.
God bless Texas. God bless the United States of America. God bless
our caucus.
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Harris).
Mr. HARRIS of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful to my
colleague for yielding to me and allowing me the time to share this
afternoon on this important subject.
I want to share some facts, because facts make a difference.
Fact number one, sharia law is not compatible with Western
Civilization.
Fact number two, radical Islam glorifies violence.
Fact number three, sharia law has no place in our country. Radical
Islam teaches harming innocent people, which, the last time I checked,
is the complete opposite of America's Constitution, which protects the
liberty of all people.
Listen to these key ideologies that sharia teaches its followers:
honor killings, stoning, lashes and/or amputation for crimes such as
theft, blasphemy, or adultery, and imposing the death penalty for
apostasy. For those who don't understand apostasy, it means if someone
wanted to leave Islam.
For anyone wondering why radical Islam is dangerous and should be
kept as far away from America as possible, they should consider these
few examples I have just given.
To think radical Islam is not a close threat is far from the truth.
We all see the rise of Zohran Mamdani's New York, which is becoming a
front page for radical Islam, a place where extremists feel emboldened.
We all witnessed the recent ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in New York,
where two young men threw homemade bombs into a group of protesters.
What was Mamdani's response to that terror attack? He blamed it on
white supremacy.
Radical Islam is staining America. It is not just a danger in places
like New York. It has made itself clear in a small, quiet suburban
town, Mint Hill, in my district in North Carolina.
At age 14, Christian Sturdivant pledged his allegiance to ISIS. Then,
4 years later, he planned an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack, using
knives and hammers to target people at a grocery store and a restaurant
on New
[[Page H2763]]
Year's Eve, a time normally filled with fireworks, food, and friends.
However, Mint Hill, North Carolina's near reality was an ISIS-inspired
terrorist attack.
I have to ask how many more impressionable American teenagers are
being influenced by this violent Islamist ideology. We must not ignore
this growing threat.
{time} 1710
If we don't act now to stop sharia law, what will America look like
in 5 years or 10 years from now?
I believe all of our roles in Congress are to set America up for a
better future. We will not be silenced because we will speak the truth
that others may be too afraid to say. America is not a place for
radical Islam to thrive, period. Full stop.
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs.
Miller).
Mrs. MILLER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Self for
holding this Special Order and for confronting an issue that too many
are afraid to name with clarity and conviction.
Sharia law is fundamentally incompatible with our Constitution and
the values that define our Nation. Its mission is to expand, influence,
and impose control at the expense of basic human rights.
We are currently witnessing the chilling rise of Islamic terrorists
who openly adhere to sharia. They reject assimilation. They reject our
laws. They reject the very idea of America itself.
Many of my colleagues on the other side have chosen to stay silent.
They sit on their hands while sharia law marches through America. They
refuse to speak honestly or act with urgency to defend the fundamental
rights of the American people.
Let me be very clear: We will not allow sharia to take root in our
schools or our institutions. We will not allow it to erode the
foundation of our civilization.
This is a defining moment, a test of whether we have the will to
defend what has been entrusted to us. That is precisely what we are
doing here today, exposing a dangerous ideology and refusing to bow to
the pressures of political correctness or intimidation.
If we fail to confront it now, it will not stop. It will continue to
expand in an attempt to reshape our society into something
unrecognizable, something fundamentally un-American.
We will remain strong, sovereign, and free. Responsibility begins
here in this Chamber. It requires the courage of every one of us to
stand firm in defense of the principles that have made this country the
greatest and most free nation on Earth.
I am proud to join the Sharia-Free America Caucus to stand alongside
my colleagues. My thanks to President Trump for restoring law, order,
and security.
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr.
Fulcher).
Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand beside my colleagues
here today. The rapid growth of the Sharia-Free America Caucus
underscores the importance of this issue to millions of Americans.
Sharia law is an oppressive, radical legal system that enables
violent intolerance of nonbelievers, the subjugation of women, and
stoning or flogging as punishment for theft, adultery, or blasphemy, as
defined through their lens.
Sharia law cannot coexist with the U.S. Constitution and the American
rule of law. Sharia goes against the very principles that we in America
hold dear: the right to practice the religion you hold to be true or
not, the freedom to speak without fear of consequences, and the equal
right of every man or woman to pursue liberty and happiness.
Our Constitution provides guidelines for freedom, for independence,
and prosperity, and the rule of law is written around it. However,
sharia governs every aspect of one's life. That alone makes it
unconstitutional.
As you have heard from my colleagues here, parts of our country are
witnessing just how devastating and conflicting sharia law can be to
our citizens and the American way of life.
We must be clear: Our Constitution, which has made the United States
a beacon of freedom, is and must remain our sole legal foundation, and
that foundation is not negotiable.
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr.
Carter).
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak against the
invasion of sharia law in America and across Western civilization.
America was founded on Christian values by seeking freedom from a
tyrannical government. Our Nation is now the beacon of freedom around
the world and the benchmark of Western civilization.
Sharia law represents everything that America is against. It destroys
society. It strips citizens of their dignity and God-given rights.
Women are forced to be subordinates and second-class citizens. Speaking
out against the government will get you killed, like the 30,000 Iranian
protesters murdered in January of this year.
Sharia law teaches believers to hate and to kill those who do not
share their values, including Christians and Jewish people. For 47
years, Iranians have been risking their lives to protest the Ayatollah
for their human rights abuses, government corruption, and crippling
their economy to the point of implosion.
The Iranian leaders are radical Shia clerics. They spread hatred
across the region and the world as the world's largest state sponsor of
terrorism.
Iranian Americans from my home State of Georgia and all over the
country are telling me how proud they are that President Trump is
taking action. America heard their calls for help. Our brave men and
women of the United States Armed Forces have annihilated most parts of
the Iranian military and have eliminated many of the top leaders. This
includes Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was responsible for the
deaths of thousands of Americans.
Iran helped sponsor and orchestrate the October 7 attacks that killed
innocent Israelis at a music festival, including 46 Americans.
President Trump is absolutely correct, Iran can never have a nuclear
weapon, and his action has saved millions of lives.
Unfortunately, the story is not the same in Europe. Every day, we see
examples of how far many of our allies across the pond have fallen to
mass immigration of those who refuse to embrace Western values. These
same people instead bring their radical Islamic beliefs with them, the
same values that ran them out of their own countries. European culture
is disappearing due to open-border policies.
They have allocated more resources, benefits, and handouts to illegal
immigrants than they ever had for their own citizens. All the while,
crime across the board has skyrocketed. Thankfully, patriotic Europeans
are beginning to stand up to their self-sabotaging governments and vote
for policies and policymakers who will save their countries from
destruction. This is an existential threat that is spreading across the
world at a rapid rate.
It has never been clearer to me than it is now that the United States
must not make the same mistake as Europe. In the 4 years under the
Biden-Harris regime, they did their best to destroy our Nation with
open-border policies.
Americans responded by overwhelmingly reelecting President Trump to
the White House. With Republicans in control, there is no better time
than now to stand up and stop the infection of sharia law into our
communities.
In Dearborn, Michigan, the influence of sharia law instituted a daily
call to prayer and the election of Islamic extremist leaders, who have
publicly attacked local citizens who have criticized their policies.
New York City elected an Islamic, communist mayor, who openly
supports Islamic extremism and has attacked the State of Israel and its
citizens.
America, if we do nothing and stand idly by like Europe did, this is
only the beginning.
Mr. Speaker, America was founded on the principles of life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. Under sharia law, none of this is
achievable. Freedom of religion is a core principle of this country and
enshrined in our Constitution. However, it does not protect religious
groups that shout threats of death to entire religious groups as we
have seen with the tyrannical Shia theocracy in Iran.
History will look back on America 100 years from now and analyze the
decisions that were made here in Congress.
[[Page H2764]]
Mr. Speaker, my question is: Will we roll over and make the same
mistake as Europe or will we stand up for what we believe in and fight
for what America has always stood for?
I can tell you one thing for sure: When they want to run our country
down, they are walking on the fighting side of me, and I will always be
on the fighting side of America and its freedom.
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr.
Moore).
{time} 1720
Mr. MOORE of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas
for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, America has one law, the United States Constitution. It
is the foundation of our Republic and the ultimate authority in our
legal system. It applies equally to every person in every place and in
every case.
The principle of equal justice under the law is what sets our Nation
apart and ensures that no one is above the law and no one is beneath
it.
Sharia law is not simply a matter of personal religious belief or
private practice, it is a comprehensive legal and political framework.
Where it has been enforced around the world, it has often led to
restrictions on basic freedoms that Americans recognize not only as God
given, but constitutionally protected.
In practice, sharia law has been used to target and disadvantage
women, limit the rights of religious minorities, and punish political
dissent.
Our system is built on individual liberty, accountability, and
fairness, not on unequal treatment or restrictions based on belief,
gender, or background.
No foreign legal code should ever influence American courts and
create a parallel system of justice. Allowing outside legal framework
to seep into our system would undermine the consistency and integrity
of American law.
Sharia law must never be allowed to override the Constitution in any
kind of way. America does not bend itself to radical ideologies,
whether they come from within or outside our borders.
Our duty is to preserve and defend the freedoms that generations of
Americans have fought to protect. That means remaining vigilant,
upholding our Constitution, and ensuring that liberty, equality, and
justice remain the guiding principles of the United States of America.
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from South Carolina
(Mrs. Biggs).
Mrs. BIGGS of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from
Texas for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a Member of the Sharia-Free America
Caucus.
America was built on the Constitution, one system of law that
protects individual liberty, equal justice, and the rights of every
single citizen.
Sharia stands in direct conflict with those principles. It does not
belong in our legal system, and it will not replace the Constitution of
the United States of America.
Back home in South Carolina, people understand exactly what is at
stake. They expect their leaders to defend our values and to not water
them down. They expect one standard of law applied equally, and they
are not interested in importing systems that undermine our freedoms.
Across the country, Americans are watching what is happening in
Europe. They are seeing what happens when leaders look the other way,
and Americans don't want that here. We are not going to apologize for
defending our country, our Constitution, or our way of life. If you
come to America, you come to live under American laws, period. That is
the end of the story.
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Fine).
Mr. FINE. Mr. Speaker, I will start by acknowledging that I think
this is a bit of a historic moment to my colleague, Congressman Self,
because you have just had more than a dozen Members of Congress talk
openly and honestly about one of the greatest threats that is facing
the United States today, the Islamification of our country.
As I will talk about in my remarks, too many would try to shut us
down, using open threats and words to try to stop what they consider
blasphemy. I will acknowledge before I begin the efforts of Congressman
Self and Congressman Roy to form this caucus, reaching 60 members.
Every time I get asked how many there are, I get the number wrong
because there is always one or two more, but I don't think we will be
happy until every Member is a part of this caucus.
Why now? Why now? Why do we deal with this issue now? Why do we deal
with this issue today? Because we have seen what lies before us. We can
see it if we look across the ocean.
France, the United Kingdom, and Western Europe are no longer
recognizable.
In France, they have had to cancel celebrations because they are
afraid that they are not sharia compliant.
In the United Kingdom, they are actually debating in Parliament the
idea of cousin marriage, a Member of Parliament crying, how could it be
banned because under sharia it is allowed.
We have seen these countries become unrecognizable, but why now?
Because we have to worry about it coming here. I could have done a
greatest hits and read hundreds of quotes, quotes that are not hidden.
They are not hidden camera quotes. These are statements that imams and
Mosques in the United States publicly make with pride about their
intention, but I just want to read one from one person, and I will put
it in context again for why now.
I will read some quotes from Imam Siraj Wahhaj from Brooklyn, New
York, that he has said quite openly.
``Islam is better than democracy. Allah will cause Islam to become a
complete way of life, to prevail over every kind of system.'' I wonder
what system he is talking about. ``And you know what? It will happen.''
That is his first quote.
Second quote: ``If only Muslims were clever politically, they could
take over the United States and replace its constitutional government
with a caliphate.'' ``If we were united and strong, we would elect our
own emir and give allegiance to him . . . `' ``Take my word, if 8
million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us.''
The final quote: ``You don't get involved in politics because it is
the American thing to do. You get involved in politics because politics
are a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.''
Now, why this imam? Why read three quotes from one leader when I told
you I could read many. Because I want to explain who publicly praised
him just a few months ago as ``one of the Nation's foremost Muslim
leaders.'' That is a quote, ``one of the Nation's foremost Muslim
leader.''
That is not my statement. That was the statement of the leading
American-Muslim politician in the United States, the new mayor of New
York, Zohran Mamdani. Every quote that I read, again, as he put it,
``one of the Nation's foremost Muslim leaders.''
We have a challenge in this debate. Even some of my colleagues here
today want to talk about radical Islam. I will talk about why they do
that, but when you look at who the leading Muslim politicians are in
the United States and their views on the issues, affinity for sharia,
embracing of Muslim terror, you have to say that is not radical. That
is the mainstream.
We have had four terror attacks by those who believe in sharia over
the past month or so, but not outcries from those who are upset about
it. So, having this discussion and talking about this is critical
because what we have learned is, they will use our values to impose
theirs upon us. It is okay to come to the United States and it is okay
to practice your religion in peace and prosperity, but the line gets
crossed when in order to advance your religion, others must submit to
it.
Congressman Self was talking about not all cultures being equal, but
part of what makes this debate so difficult is we are told that we are
one giant, human family, that we all believe the same things, that we
all share the same ideals, but if we have learned anything in the past
few years, that is not always true.
We have seen those who have taken to terror to stop freedom of
assembly in New York, freedom of worship in Michigan, freedom to go to
a bar in Austin, Texas, and freedom to go to a university in Virginia.
I saw what sharia could do to the human soul on October 7, and not
all Muslims are terrorists. Not even everyone who believes in sharia
wants to hurt everybody else, but the fact that not all do doesn't mean
that none do.
[[Page H2765]]
On October 7, a young man called his parents to brag about an
achievement that he had done in his faith in advancing sharia, and he
called his parents and he told them, mom and dad, I had an
extraordinary achievement today, and his parents were crying.
Now, for us, in our culture, in our society, you would have thought
he got into college, he got a job, he had a baby, or he is getting
married. No. He called his parents who cried with joy because he had
killed 10 infidels. He had killed 10 Jews.
{time} 1730
Not only did he feel that was something to brag about to his parents,
but his parents cried with tears of joy.
We have to be willing to have the difficult conversations about the
threat that exists because, as Congressman Self said: The enemy is no
longer at the gates. They are inside.
Now, they will stop at nothing to stop us from having this
conversation. They will ratchet up. They will use a war of rhetoric to
try to silence us. They will claim that we are racist, despite the fact
that the philosophy we are talking about is not limited to any one
race. It doesn't matter what you look like. You can believe in sharia.
They will say we are irrationally afraid of it. They will use the
term ``Islamophobia,'' a word developed, by the way, not to say you are
against something but to say that you are afraid of something.
Well, I think all of us who have spoken today would say this: We are
afraid. We are afraid of what we have seen in Afghanistan. We are
afraid of what we have seen in Iran. We are afraid of what we have seen
in Gaza. We are afraid of what we have seen in France and Germany and
the U.K. We are afraid of what we have seen in Dearborn and at Old
Dominion University and in New York City. We are afraid of what we saw
on September 11, 25 years ago.
We have ample reason to be afraid, but the good news is, because of
these 60-and-counting folks being led by Congressman Roy and
Congressman Self, perhaps there is hope that we will not need to be
afraid for too much longer.
Again, I thank my colleagues for organizing this. It is an
extraordinary moment. I know that this fight is just beginning, but I
know by working together we will ultimately win it. We will make sure
that we can continue to have that phrase that we put up there above
that flag, above the Speaker's rostrum: In God we trust.
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments, and I
now recognize my colleague from Arizona (Mr. Crane.)
Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to warn Americans about the
growing threats posed by adherence to sharia law.
Supporters of this radical framework believe in a mandate to dominate
those who refuse to conform to their belief system.
Across the West, politicians have welcomed millions of foreigners who
do not share our values, culture, or tradition. As a result, they have
undermined not only stability but also the identity of their own
nations. In Europe especially, weak leaders have ignored serious human
rights abuses while punishing their citizens for speaking out against
open-border policies.
While Washington prioritizes neutralizing the capabilities of
adversarial nation-states, we too often ignore growing dangers from
within our own borders.
These internal vulnerabilities are far more difficult to confront
since they spread quietly through our culture, rather than kinetic
warfare. Whether it is communism, socialism, or radical frameworks like
sharia, we have all observed movements counter to our Nation's interest
on the rise.
If we don't shield our Constitutional Republic from ideological
subversion, we risk eroding our liberties to appease those who refuse
to assimilate.
This should not be a controversial message. We have every right and
obligation to defend the principles and structure implemented by our
Founding Fathers.
If people wish to live under sharia law, there are dozens of nations
that operate under it. That is not the system we have chosen, nor is it
compatible with our Constitution. Our laws are rooted in individual
liberty, not religious authoritarianism.
Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join Representative Roy, Representative
Self, and other colleagues as a member of the Sharia-Free America
Caucus. We refuse to sit by as radicals pursue their goal of a global
caliphate, and we will not pretend it has no threat to our way of life.
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. And I
now recognize the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy), the cofounder of this
caucus and my fellow Texan.
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my friend from Texas, and I don't
want to take up too much time. It has been a great hour. We have had a
lot of good conversation. I appreciate the remarks from the gentleman
from Florida (Mr. Fine.) He and my friend from Arizona outlined very
well a lot of the concerns in addition to what my friend from Texas has
done.
The fact is you cannot win a war that you do not acknowledge exists.
Let's be very clear: There is a war being waged against Western
civilization, against the United States of America, and against the
State of Texas where I live. It is happening in real time, and it has
been going on now for decades. In fact, go all the way back to the 1991
memorandum that was put forward by the Muslim Brotherhood with a number
of provisions in it. The one I want to highlight is this: ``In order
for Islam and its movement to become `a part of the homeland' in which
it lives, `stable' in its land, `rooted' in the spirits and minds of
its people, `enabled' in the lives of its society and has firmly-
established `organizations' . . . its movement must plan and struggle
to obtain `the keys' and the tools of this process to carry out the
grand mission as a `Civilization Jihadist' responsibility which lies on
the shoulders of Muslims and--on top of them--the Muslim Brotherhood in
this country.
``The process of settlement is a `Civilization-Jihadist Process' with
all the word means.''
I can keep going. This is organized. There are 600 organizations
operating in this country and in Texas trying to drive the
Islamification of the United States of America in direct conflict with
our laws, our Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence.
This has been brought onto this country by our own actions as a
government. Since 9/11, some 5-million people have been granted the
ability to come into our country from majority Muslim countries, in a
post 9/11 world after we were attacked.
In real time in Texas, we have more mosques being built in Texas than
any other State in the Union. The problem here is that people are going
to hide behind the First Amendment to say this is something that is
protected by carrying out your exercise of free expression of your
religion and carrying out your rights under the First Amendment.
What I am here to tell you is that this, by what I just read and by
every action that I have seen in concert with this memorandum, is a
political ideology that is designed to attack and take over our
civilization and to carry out the civilization Jihad that I just
described.
Mr. Speaker, it is for this reason that we have this Sharia-Free
America Caucus. It is for this reason that we are gathering to
highlight for the American people what is happening right now in real
time such that if you look at Paris and London and you think that is
somehow acceptable, then you are misguided because they are losing
their way. So much so that I have said repeatedly that we should be as
concerned about a nuclearized United Kingdom and as concerned about
nuclearized France as we are a nuclearized Iran. It is coming to the
shores of the United States, and it is here.
{time} 1740
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).
Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Evans of Colorado). The gentleman from
Texas has 13 minutes remaining.
Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I thank both my friends, the gentlemen from
Texas, for having the guts to do this.
[[Page H2766]]
Unfortunately, it is now acceptable. It is now acceptable. As we
watched in Texas, it is amazing. If you built a community in any State,
including Texas, and you said that only Christians need to apply, only
Christians, can you imagine? Can you imagine?
Our Constitution--I have it right here--very specifically says:
``Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'' Yet, this is what is
literally being attempted in States like Texas.
Mr. Speaker, sharia means the law. That is the definition of it
generally, and it is all-encompassing. It is everything about your
being, your spirituality, your actions. It means the law.
There are Muslims in the world. There are Muslims in my community who
are persecuted because they are the wrong kind of Muslims, because they
don't agree with this one or that sect of the Muslim faith.
They will come to me and say that they don't believe in sharia by the
sword, which is comforting. It is comforting. I don't want to see my
community and my country taken over in violent overthrow because I
don't believe the same thing.
Yet, they will say that they do believe in sharia by the pen--by the
pen. So it is not violent, Mr. Speaker, but what they are talking about
is conquering your nation one way or the other. We have to decide what
we are going to do about this.
I hear that there are sharia courts overseas in the U.K. and in
Europe, but there aren't any where I live or maybe in the United States
of America, but how would you know?
I suspect that the gentleman from Texas will tell us that there are
sharia courts in Texas and that the community is very tight-knit, so if
they are going to adjudicate things in a sharia court, which is even
against the law because it flies in the face of the Constitution of the
United States of America and our laws, how can you prove that there has
been an infraction of the law when you have no witnesses since there
are no witnesses because they will not speak out against their own
laws?
Let's talk about what some of those things include. Leaving the
faith, under sharia, is punishable by death. Things like theft, which
is a serious crime--and we have punishments in the United States of
America, but they don't involve removing your limbs, but that is true
in sharia.
If a woman is charged with adultery, the punishment is stoning to
death. They have honor killings in sharia. For forced marriages, if a
young lady barely out of her teens or still in her teens refuses to
marry as she is directed by her parents, they are justified under
sharia in killing her.
This has no place in America. It just simply has no place in America.
People will say that it is over there. It is not here. I want to
remind everybody: Egypt was not always under sharia. Neither was Syria.
Neither was Turkiye. Neither was Iran. These countries were all
something else. We have just grown up in our lifetime thinking that
that is what they always have been because that is what we have always
known them to be. They were not always that way.
Sharia is tolerated, I think, because it is characterized as a
religion. It is characterized as a religion, but I would ask you this:
If it is characterized as a religion, and there are many in this body
who fight continuously for, as they call it, the separation of church
and state, which, by the way, cannot be found in the United States
Constitution, how is it that schools in some States are now forcing
sharia-compliant meals in their schools?
The schools are funded by the States. The schools are funded by the
Federal Government. How is that possible? Yet, it is possible. It is
possible, and it is happening.
My friend from Texas mentioned the Holy Land Foundation
investigation, the largest terror investigation in the United States'
history, where it was laid out by the Muslim Brotherhood how they were
going to conquer America. We have the plan. We know the plan, under
sharia.
Since 1991--it is 2026--their plan is, generally, to come not to be
Americans but to be in America, to act as the underclass, to use the
sympathy and guilt of the nation that they have come to and prey upon
those who feel sympathy and guilt for them being in the underclass.
They refuse to assimilate to that culture, whether it is America,
Europe, or any other culture other than their own. They just live in
that culture.
Others around them, because they don't want to be a part of that,
move away. Then, more sharia-compliant individuals move into the
neighborhood. Once they reach a critical mass, they start instituting
sharia law. That is how it goes.
I am not saying, and I don't think either gentleman from Texas--we
all know. I have upstanding, law-abiding, life-loving, freedom-loving,
Constitution-loving Muslims living in my community. There are whole
nations, believe it or not, of those kinds of folks.
But I will tell you this: Once the local imam says that you are going
to comply or become an apostate, and the wages and the penalty for
apostasy are death, that is a very strong motivator to say that I know
I live in America, or I know I live in the U.K., or I know I live in
Ireland or Spain or France, but my religion says this.
Sharia law has no place in America, and it is time for all of us to
wake up and make sure that we have a righteous conversation with all
Americans--with Christians, with Buddhists, with Muslims, with
atheists, with everybody to preserve what we all love in America, which
is the freedom to exercise our own beliefs.
There is only one so-called law, sharia law, that disallows that for
everyone else, and that is why it is not appropriate to have it.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding to me.
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, sharia is alive, well, and operating in Plano,
Texas. Right now, as I speak, there is an existing sharia-adherent
enclave run by the East Plano Islamic Center in my congressional
district. It has been functioning for 12 years right in our midst. This
is not a hypothetical or future threat. It is here now and operational.
Let me lay out exactly what already exists in Plano today under
EPIC's control: 74 homes sold exclusively to Muslims affiliated with
EPIC, no outsiders permitted; a massive megamosque, serving as the
central anchor of the enclave; sharia-adherent Islamic schools
indoctrinating the next generation--by the way, we believe that the
girls disappear at a certain point; a medical clinic; multiple
businesses; and an Islamic financing institution providing sharia-
compliant financing that rejects conventional American banking
principles.
Most alarming of all, according to a former senior Plano law
enforcement official, there is speculation that there are unattended
deaths in this Muslim-only community that are not being reported, as
required under State law. That is, individuals in this community die,
as is natural, and first responders are never called to the scene.
{time} 1750
Let me be clear. Not reporting a death is a crime under Texas State
law. My office is going to follow every lead we have on this to ensure
American law is being followed.
The bottom line: This is no ordinary neighborhood. It is a parallel
society, a de facto sharia enclave operating in defiance of full
assimilation into American law, situated immediately adjacent to the
very law enforcement facilities meant to protect our communities.
Alarmingly, and as a matter of fact, the pattern of Islamic centers
being built next to police training facilities is emerging. There is
also one in Irving, Texas. Intimidation is clearly the intent.
EPIC is phase 1 of a broader strategy. EPIC City, a proposed 400-
acre, Muslim-only housing development, now rebranded as The Meadow to
deflect scrutiny and public opposition, is phase 2.
While this larger proposed development remains in the planning
stages, with no construction underway, it is far from resolved.
As of March 2026, developers continue pushing forward, submitting
plat applications, refiling despite rejections, and facing ongoing
legal battles. Collin County has paused or rejected plans due to
deficiencies, missing documentation, and incomplete submissions.
[[Page H2767]]
State investigations led by Governor Greg Abbott, Attorney General
Ken Paxton, and agencies like the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality have secured court orders, including a recent temporary
restraining order in March, blocking illegal utility district
maneuvers.
Federal probes, such as HUD's active Fair Housing Act investigation
into potential religious discrimination, add significant pressure. Yet
the developers persist, rebranding and refiling to wear down
resistance.
Make no mistake, the enemy is inside the gates: building exclusive
zones, enforcing foreign codes, and seeking to grow despite every
obstacle.
Sharia does not assimilate. It dominates and conquers.
America welcomes people of every faith to come to live under our
Constitution and assimilate into our society, but we will never
tolerate a system that creates submission-based enclaves, exclusive
housing markets, or fortresses overlooking our police academies.
This is why our caucus continues to grow rapidly. This is why Texans
passed Proposition 10 by a 95 percent landslide to ban sharia in Texas.
That is why we must remain vigilant at every level: local, State, and
Federal.
Mr. Speaker, the American people demand that we defend the rule of
law, not allow its gradual erosion. Sharia has no place in Plano.
Sharia has no place in Texas. Sharia has no place in America.
I urge every colleague who values American sovereignty to join the
Sharia-Free Caucus today. Let us defend the West. Let us defend our
freedoms and let us defend American sovereignty.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________