Sharia-Free America
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
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.
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.
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.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
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 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 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.
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.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. SELF.
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.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments, and I now recognize my colleague from Arizona (Mr. Crane.)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
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.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
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.
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.
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.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source