SHARIA-FREE AMERICA

SHARIA-FREE AMERICA

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 57 (Thursday, March 26, 2026) [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