This is not an official government website.
Copyright © 2026 PLEJ LC. All rights reserved.
Congressional Daily Record
This section captures a floor statement or debate entry. It mentions members such as Keith Self.
Issued
March 26, 2026
house side of the record
People
3
Linked members mentioned in this section
Legislation
0
No linked legislation in this section
Committees
0
No linked committees in this section
Senate Holds
0
No hold activity linked here
Source Document
Connected Data
People mentioned
Source Control
Reader mode is for comprehension. The linked government PDF is the official published source.
Download official House Record PDFReturn to issue contextUnder 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
sharia-adherent living, over 1,000 homes, a new mosque, a K-12 school, and other facilities tailored to enforce submission rather than assimilation.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
honor killings, half inheritance for women, and testimony worth half that of a man.
places where adultery brings stoning, apostasy brings death or public floggings, and men and women live in slavery.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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 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.
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
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.
being influenced by this violent Islamist ideology. We must not ignore this growing threat.
{time} 1710
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.
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.
the values that define our Nation. Its mission is to expand, influence, and impose control at the expense of basic human rights.
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.
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.
my colleagues. My thanks to President Trump for restoring law, order, and security.
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.
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.
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.
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. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak against the invasion of sharia law in America and across Western civilization.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
call to prayer and the election of Islamic extremist leaders, who have publicly attacked local citizens who have criticized their policies.
supports Islamic extremism and has attacked the State of Israel and its citizens.
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.
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.
{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.
apart and ensures that no one is above the law and no one is beneath it.
restrictions on basic freedoms that Americans recognize not only as God given, but constitutionally protected.
women, limit the rights of religious minorities, and punish political dissent.
fairness, not on unequal treatment or restrictions based on belief, gender, or background.
create a parallel system of justice. Allowing outside legal framework to seep into our system would undermine the consistency and integrity of American law.
kind of way. America does not bend itself to radical ideologies, whether they come from within or outside our borders.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
threat that exists because, as Congressman Self said: The enemy is no longer at the gates. They are inside.
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.
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.
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.
adversarial nation-states, we too often ignore growing dangers from within our own borders.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.