Part 2: Sharia-Free America: Why Political Islam & Sharia Law are Incompatible with The Constitution

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>> The very foundation of our constitution, our legal system, and our way of life in serious peril. In February, this committee held a hearing on this topic, warning of the threat and incompatibility Sharia law poses to the American people. This Congress should routinely re-examine the existential threat facing our republic and how to counter its spread into our social, societal, and political systems. The principles of Sharia law undermine the cherished freedoms that countless Americans have suffered and even died for since our nation's founding. Let's remind ourselves what Sharia law and political Islam entail. Political Islam silences dissent, prohibits religious freedom, allows barbaric punishments, and treats women, children, and non-Muslims as second-class citizens. What's more, Sharia law and political Islam sanction honor killings for adultery, death for individuals leaving the Islamic faith, encourages polygamy for men regardless of the women's age, allows female non-Muslims to be taken as sex slaves in war, and permits corporal punishment like stoning and female genital mutilation for perceived violations. In fact, the central sacred scripture of Islamic observers, the Quran, has several martial calls that encourage its followers to wage war, not just spiritual, against and conquer non-Muslims. So, when you clash with the unbelievers, smite their necks until you overpower them, then hold them in bondage, then either free them graciously or after taking a ransom until war shall come to an end. Surah 47:4. It is not a religious code or belief system; it is a repressive legal regime that betrays America's founding principles and threatens our Constitution. In fact, it seeks to replace it. America was founded on the basic concept of individual freedom and self-governance under the rule of law, of a just and moral law. As John Adams succinctly put it, our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people; it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. And to my colleagues who may conflate critiquing Islam and Sharia as undermining the First Amendment rights of Muslims, I remind them of the following. People do not have protection from imposing a foreign legal system or code that overrides or replaces US civil or criminal law nor the Constitution. The Constitution begins with "We the People." Sharia is the legal code for Islam and is taught to its observers to be abided by and enforced. As Robert Jackson, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, who also served as the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, elucidated succinctly how liberty-crushing Sharia was, the antithesis of Western law. Quote, "Islamic law offers the American lawyer a study in dramatic contrast. Its striking features relative to our law are not likenesses, but inconsistencies in its source, its scope, and its sanctions. The law of the Middle East is the antithesis of Western law." He was right then, and he would be right today. The radicals pushing political Islam do not want to coexist with America's culture and political order. They want to replace it. But you do not need to take my word for it. Islamists have stated this clearly themselves. Violent jihadist Sayyid Qutb, a thought leader of modern jihadist and spiritual mentor for Osama bin Laden, led the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and surmised Sharia in his book *Milestones* as follows. In Islam, the meaning of the Sharia is not limited to mere legal injunctions, but includes the principles of administration, its system, its modes. He said, "By the Sharia of God is meant everything legislated by God for ordering man's life." Additionally, the Muslim Brotherhood motto reads, "Allah is our objective. The prophet is our leader. The Quran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope." Even groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations, also known as CAIR, which masquerades as a peaceful nonprofit advocating for US Muslims and Islam, has a sorted history of collaborating with bad actors, terror groups, and forcing Sharia in America. Omar Ahmad, the co-founder and long-time board chairman of CAIR, said of Islam and its role in America, "Quote, Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Quran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth." Just as concerning, CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial. On appeal, United States District Court Judge Jorge Solis upheld CAIR's co-conspirator status and ruled that the Department of Justice, "Quote, produced ample evidence of CAIR's association with Hamas." A founding [clears throat] member of CAIR's Texas chapter, Ghassan Elashi, was found guilty in 2009 of money laundering, tax fraud, and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, and sentenced to 65 years in prison. What's more is that CAIR has long been suspected of harboring ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, the terrorist group responsible for the barbaric October 7th, 2023 attacks against our friend and ally Israel.

The threat posed by political Islam and Sharia law is not some far-away concern. We can look at Europe to see what happens when nations allow themselves to be invaded and let political Islam infiltrate their society. In France, a recent poll found that 44% of Muslims think compliance with Islamic rules is more important than compliance with French laws. In the United Kingdom, Muslims are increasingly turning to Sharia courts to settle disputes rather than the UK's legal system. There are now 85 Sharia law courts operating in the country. In the United Kingdom, Muhammad is now the number one most popular baby name in the country. And in Germany, Muhammad is the most popular baby name among people receiving government welfare. Over the past few years, Sharia-based legal institutions have taken root in American communities, and nowhere is this problem worse than in my home state of Texas. Fueled by decades of an unsecured border and expansionist legal immigration policies, Texas has seen a sharp increase in immigration from the Muslim world with many immigrants trying everything they can to bring Sharia with them. According to a 2026 report by the Middle East Forum, there are approximately 650 Islamic non-profit organizations based in Texas, and we can see the results. The Kalam Institute, a Deobandi institution and the leading Islamic seminary in America, is based in Carrollton, Texas. Its leaders have been called American society filth, have advocated for the killing of apostates, and have supported the taking of sex slaves. In Houston, the South Asian Islamist movement operates a powerful and extensive network that works in direct coordination with the Pakistani regime and Kashmiri terror operatives. An Iranian regime, known as the Khomeinists, operates several mosques in Texas and supports a number of pro-terror activist groups. In 2024, members of Plano mosque tried to create their own Islamic enclave governed by Sharia law within the state of Texas, and they called it Epic City. Thankfully, office holders, activists, and private citizens mobilized to try to stop Epic City from advancing for the time being. However, as much of a problem Epic City poses, Sharia's spread to other parts of Texas attempting to transform the existing legal, cultural, and societal structures of these communities. For example, in January, Texas Tech medical student Muhammad Al Tabbaa, whose father is a Syrian Imam and ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, bought the Amant Elementary School campus, an abandoned school in Lubbock, and converted it into the gleaming Unity Center mosque in 45 days. In March, taxpayer-funded school buses from Humble ISD took more than 30 students from Kingwood to the Islamist Spanish Centro Islamico in Houston, a controversial Dawa center that glorifies the Islamic conquest of Spain and claims Latinos' roots are in Muslim Spain and seeks to shape the next generation to view Islam favorably as part of its two-front strategy to expand Sharia's influence in America. Also in March, a report surfaced that the Islamic Center of Haltom City, Texas, had acquired and repurposed the former Christway Bible Church, a long-standing Christian site in Texas. The church was purchased by Mulqura Islamic Foundation, which according to their own announcements, aims to transform this traditional church into a vibrant Islamic center that will serve our community for generations to come. And just last month, in Richardson, Texas, opened Al Amira Plaza, a 125,000 square foot office complex that now functions as a one-stop parallel society where Muslims can fulfill every daily need under strict Sharia-compliant rules with zero pressure to integrate into the surrounding American culture. I could list more examples for hours.

Just as alarming, shadow Islamic courts have popped up across Texas. One Dallas tribunal purports to render final judgments on disputes in accordance with Islamic jurisprudence, placing Sharia law above both state and federal law. Both these attempted community transformations and these Islamic courts run counter to Texas values and are repugnant to the American Constitution and our system of laws. The Islamification of American society is not just happening in Texas. America has also seen a concerning resurgence in violent Islamic terrorism. Since the last hearing on this topic in February, there have been four Islamic terrorist attacks in a 3-month span, including a naturalized citizen originally from Sierra Leone with a prior conviction for attempting to aid ISIS opening fire at Old Dominion University's campus while yelling Allahu Akbar, killing someone during the attack. The same day as the ODU attack, a Lebanese-born naturalized American citizen rammed his vehicle into the Temple Israel synagogue and preschool in West Bloomfield, Michigan in an allegedly targeted attack against the Jewish community, causing a fire and injuring on-site security personnel. Two suspects with stated allegiance to ISIS attempted to detonate two improvised explosive devices near the New York City mayor's residence on Manhattan. Both suspects' parents immigrated to the US from the terror-prone countries of Turkey and Afghanistan. And in my home in Austin, a naturalized citizen originally from Mauritania, motivated by extremist ideologies, opened fire on a crowd in Austin, Texas, killing three people and injuring several others before being stopped by law enforcement, all while wearing a hoodie with a caption "Property of Allah." None of these tragedies needed to happen. Between our overly generous and lax legal immigration policies that allowed these attackers to enter the country in the first place, and our lack of adequate response to stopping Islamist ideology in its tracks, our nation remains vulnerable to Sharia law and potential terrorist attacks that could wreak. For too long, politicians, scared of being called Islamophobic, have failed to stop the spread of Sharia law and refused to put an end to the ceaseless immigration from the world of people who adhere to it. How many more Americans must die or succumb to Sharia law before we address this critical threat to our safety and our way of life? I've outlined much of what has happened related to Sharia in the 3 months since we had the last hearing on this issue. We cannot wait any longer to take meaningful, decisive action. I believe American citizens are worth protecting. America's Judeo-Christian principles, upon which this country were founded, is worth defending. And America's founding principles generally are worth preserving. We must act now to stop Sharia law and the threat that it poses to our nation and our Constitution. I now recognize the ranking member, Ms. Scanlon, for her opening statement.

>> Thank you. Uh, this is the second time this year that this subcommittee has been convened to hold a hearing about Sharia law, which, unsurprisingly, doesn't even rank on the list of top 10 issues keeping Americans up at night. Actually, it doesn't appear to be an issue anywhere in this country except in Texas, where Republican politicians are so desperate to distract voters from their disastrous economy and surging gas prices. Because, as one Republican strategist said, these candidates don't want to be talking about the economy right now. So they've made up a conspiracy theory about their Muslim neighbors in order to scare and motivate voters. But repeating lies over and over and over again doesn't make them true, and it doesn't make unconstitutional bigotry legal. The last time the subcommittee convened on this topic, I wondered if our colleagues actually believed their own hysterical and wildly unsubstantiated claims about people of the Muslim faith trying to impose so-called Sharia law on the United States. But as before, they're not producing one ounce of proof to vindicate their fear-mongering. Tellingly, they've also not produced a single Muslim witness or expert on Islam or Sharia law. And now the only thing that's changed between the last hearing and now is that Texas's fiercely contested Republican primaries have moved into runoff elections, now just under 2 weeks away. So in Texas, this issue continues to be a flashpoint for Republican, federal, state, and local candidates as they desperately compete with one another over who can be toughest against their Sharia law fantasy. It's a threat based not on reality, but invented with manufactured alarm. Because like belief systems that guide adherents of other faiths, including Christianity or Judaism, Sharia is about individual, personal religious observance, not about shaping America's national laws. And contrary to the misleading claims that have been offered here, there's no evidence of any plot to impose Sharia law on non-believers of Islam. It's just not happening. No matter how many right-wing influencers make videos about it, no matter how many Texas laws are passed to combat it, or what legislation is introduced here in DC with flashy acronyms decrying it. There's no evidence that a proposed real estate development in the Dallas suburbs, which was initiated by members of the area's growing Muslim population, is a Sharia compound, as Texas Republicans have claimed. To say otherwise is to spread blatant misinformation. In fact, even the Trump Justice Department closed an investigation into the development, finding no basis for any violation of fair housing laws. Politicians standing up against made-up threats of Sharia law incursions are shamefully scapegoating Muslim Americans for political gain, without any care for how many people end up as collateral damage to this kind of rhetoric. Because these culture wars, including desperate political stunts like scapegoating followers of Islam, have real-world consequences. Words matter, and stirring up hatred and bigotry, when that happens, real people are put at risk. Hate crimes against Muslims in particular have increased. In cynically playing on division to win an election, Republicans sacrifice the safety of the very Americans they're supposed to be trying to represent.

The fact is, in this country, you can't ban a person's right to practice Islam any more than you could ban a person's practice of Christianity, Judaism, or the decision to practice no religion at all. Our Constitution, and particularly the First Amendment, which was central to its adoption in 1787, remains clear. In this country, people have the right to hold and express whatever religious beliefs they choose, or none at all. And despite the arguments we're hearing from our Republican colleagues, we know that from our republic's earliest days, Muslims were intended to be included within the fabric of American life. Thomas Jefferson specifically referenced followers of Islam among other faiths in his writings about the passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786, which was one of his proudest achievements and the First Amendment's precursor. This is a core component of our Constitution that's particularly valued in my home state of Pennsylvania, which was founded by William Penn to promote religious freedom and where the Constitution was written. For hundreds of years, Pennsylvania has been home to people of many faiths and denominations, including Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Evangelicals, Quakers, Muslims, Sikhs, and people of no faith at all. In my district, we have a growing cultural center, Africa Town, founded by immigrants turned citizens, many of whom are Muslim, and who have made huge contributions to our economic, cultural, charitable, and civic life. One of our most cherished American values is that you don't have to agree with your neighbor's beliefs, but no one can use the power of the government to punish or discriminate against those who do. And since this is the Constitution Subcommittee, any of my colleagues who find that principle suspicious or foreign should probably take another look at the First Amendment and the oath they took to support and defend the Constitution. Unfortunately, over and over again, we've seen this White House and its Republican allies in Congress try to use the power of the federal government to spy on and target Americans whose opinions and beliefs they don't like, whether those are religious, political, or otherwise. But Americans know, we know at our core that if the government can go after one group, it can go after all of us. And that's why people have shown up, stood up, and spoken out about this kind of activity. Instead of trying to score political points at the expense of innocent people, I wish our Republican colleagues would focus on making Americans' lives better instead of going along with this administration when it starts tariff wars which have driven up the price of housing, cars, and consumer goods or slashing programs that Americans rely on for better health care, housing, energy, and nutrition and [snorts] starting foreign wars that have put Americans in danger, driven up the cost of gas, or making a tax on basic liberties like free speech, free press, the right to peaceful protest or, in this hearing, freedom of religion. We should be uniting behind these fundamental principles that make this country actually great. Not fueling division by going after our fellow Americans with trumped-up charges, uh going after our family, our friends, our neighbors, and casting them as the enemy. So, I'm hopeful that we won't have a third round of this pointless hearing, but with that I yield back.

>> I now recognize the chairman of the full committee, Mr. Jordan, for his opening statement.

>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The ranking member talked about this is, you know, conspiracy theory and fear-mongering. It's anything but. This is looking at a real concern, and I appreciate the chairman doing that. But, if we want to talk about conspiracy theory and fear-mongering, look no further than the Southern Poverty Law Center. And the full committee will have a hearing on that issue next week. They were running a scam. They were paying people. One person, one source, they paid over a million dollars to promote and create the hate that they told their donors they were actually fighting. What an operation they were running. You talk about fear-mongering and conspiracy theory, there you have it. And we'll be looking at this issue next week. The Biden Justice Department used the Southern Poverty Law Center to train prosecutors, setting them up as the standard for evaluating what's a hate group, what's not. So, if you want to talk about conspiracy theory and fear-mongering, we'll get to that. That's all happening on the left. And the prime example is the organization that is now being investigated by the Department of Justice. So, I appreciate the chairman and the work he's doing on this important issue, particularly in his state of Texas, and look forward to hearing from our witnesses and thank them for being here today. And with that, I yield back.

>> I thank Chairman Jordan. I now recognize the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Raskin, for his opening statement.

>> Mr. Chairman, thank you and thanks to our witnesses. Forgive me, but didn't we have this exact same hearing not that long ago? I think it's the fourth or fifth in the line, and I can't believe that the cupboard of Republican ideas is so barren now that in order to distract America from Donald Trump's illegal, unconstitutional, ruinous war and his ruinous, illegal, unconstitutional tariffs and the spiraling price of gasoline and the unlivable economy he's created that we have to go back and have this exact same hearing over and over again. Couldn't we come up with something else instead? It's not exactly working to reverse Donald Trump's precipitous slide into being the most unpopular president in American history, 'cause that's where we are. So, if we're going to have another religious convocation, perhaps next time it could be a debate between Donald Trump dressed up perhaps like Jesus Christ and the Pope of the Catholic Church so the Pope can answer Trump's recent accusation that he's weak on crime. I never got that charge. After all, Trump himself is a convicted felon who's pardoned more than 1,600 rioters, insurrectionists, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, domestic abusers, child molesters, white-collar fraudsters, and international narcotraffickers and drug dealers, and the Pope is certainly not weak on him. The Pope has made his views on Donald Trump perfectly clear, so I don't understand how Trump is saying that the Pope is weak on crime. Anyway, I had this idea I wanted to float by my colleagues to perhaps create some legislative progress in this field. The Republicans are afraid that Muslims are going to impose Sharia law on the rest of the population. Now, I'm not so afraid of that because we have 535 members of Congress and only four of them are Muslim, which makes it extremely unlikely. How could less than 1% of Congress impose Sharia law on the other 99%? And what's even more reassuring is I actually know some of these Muslim Americans who happen to be in Congress, and they're all civil libertarians who stand up for the separation of church and state. Um, but even if they changed their minds and convinced all the Christians, Jews, Hindus, and freethinkers in Congress, who are 99% in the house, to vote for Sharia law, I'm sure someone on the Senate side, where there are no Muslims at all, would put a hold on it like everything else that we send over there. Um, so I'm a pretty good vote counter, and I don't think that there would be a single vote to establish Sharia law in the United States Congress or in any state of the Union. But anyway, I had this idea to take advantage of the fact that we all agree on this point. Why don't we generalize the proposition of this anti-Sharia law movement to say that the government should not be endorsing or establishing any religion in America, whether it's Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Jews for Jesus, Seventh-day Adventism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, fundamental Mormonism, Unitarian Universalism, Branch Davidianism, or Hare Krishna. I was playing with some language and I came up with this rough cut, Mr. Chairman. It goes like this: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." What do you think about that? You think that covers it? We could call the first part the establishment clause. We could call the second part the free exercise clause. I know we could get that through the Democratic Caucus. You think that we could get it through the Republican Conference? I'm not sure. I hope so. The problem is that we've got theocrats out there across the religious spectrum who want to elevate their own religious creeds and dogmas above the Constitution and establish them over the secular law. Take for example what the Texas and Louisiana legislatures recently did. They voted to endorse the Ten Commandments and post the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom in their states. I didn't even know that was necessary because I thought the Ten Commandments were doing all right after millennia. I didn't know they needed an endorsement from the Republican conference, but they went ahead and did that. Now they want to have votes in every state legislature to endorse the Ten Commandments and to post the Ten Commandments. Uh, I'm opposed to that because of the provision in the Constitution, Article 6, Clause 3, which says there shall be no religious tests for public office. That sounds like a religious test when you round up all the politicians and you ask them to vote on the Ten Commandments. And by the way, if we are going to vote on the Ten Commandments, Mr. Chairman, I do not support that omnibus Republican package. I think we should have to vote on each commandment separately. And I don't think that you should be able to vote for any commandment you yourself have ever violated because then we'll be taking the name of the Lord in vain. Um, so, uh, you know, one politician I spoke to on the floor about this, he said, uh, that you know that the Ten Commandments are the basis for the Bill of Rights. He kind of confused me there for a second. I said, "Well, I do know that there are 10 in each one. That's true, but let's test the proposition. The first commandment says, 'Thou shalt have no other god before me.'" The First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." It's hard to see how the First Commandment dictates the First Amendment. Um, so, uh, is Sharia law incompatible with the Constitution as the title of the hearing is? Sure. And so is legislating any other religious text, the Ten Commandments, the Torah, or the Analects of Confucius, or whatever, any religious scripture or body. The whole point of our First Amendment is that people can go believe whatever they want. The government's not going to dictate to you what your religious worship and practice uh are going to be. The government is out of it. So, I did not write that language, to be clear. James Madison wrote that language. He took care of your whole anti-Sharia law law uh centuries ago. This is a complete waste of time. And he had the right idea. Madison would be appalled that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals just voted 9-8 to uphold the compulsory Ten Commandments display in every school classroom in Texas or Louisiana. If Louisiana can do that, it can compel display of the Five Pillars of Islam. Think about that. You really want to head down that road? The states could uh force display of the Ten Precepts of Buddhism, the Analects of Confucius, or the Five Principles of Hinduism. If you can put up the Ten Commandments. And by the way, the Ten Commandments doesn't exist as one commonly agreed-upon uh body of law. If you go online, you'll find like 10 or 15 different versions of the Ten Commandments. There's a Catholic version, there's a Lutheran version, there's a Jewish version, a Baptist version, Mennonite, and so on. You can, you know, if you can compel display of 10 of them, you can compel display of all of them. There could be 100 Commandments. There could be 150 Commandments. So, look, my friends, we don't need an anti-Sharia law law, or an anti-Christian law law, or an anti-Jewish law law, or an anti-Hindu law law. We've already got one forbidding the imposition of any religious orthodoxy, forbidding the endorsement of any religious orthodoxy. It's called the First Amendment. And everybody should familiarize themselves with it because this is a complete waste of time we're doing here. The government cannot establish, prefer, legislate, coerce, impose, or endorse any religious doctrine. And we don't need a special law or a special caucus to do that. And if my friends understand that, then I think they will reverse course on this movement. Unless the purpose of the movement is just to demonize and vilify not a religion, but adherents of the religion. But then I would have to believe that my colleagues are actually out just attacking Muslims. Attacking Muslim Americans. Criticizing and vilifying them for their beliefs or their way of life. And I don't want to believe that. But I do challenge my friends to state one thing that an anti-Sharia law law would do that the First Amendment doesn't already do. Tell me one thing that we would need to legislate that's not already taken care of by the Establishment Clause or the Free Exercise Clause. The real threat to our Constitution comes not from adherents of a particular religion, but from turning our backs on the Constitution and the First Amendment. Our freedoms are not under siege by a religious minority trying to build a community center, but they are undermined by lawmakers who would want to turn Americans against each other on a religious basis. And is it true that religious fanatics commit violent criminal acts? Absolutely. I mean, you talk to any secular freethinker and they will say that every religion has produced religious fanatics who have committed violence. Take for example Timothy McVeigh, who was part of the Christian Identity Church, the Christian Identity Movement, trained on racism and anti-Semitism. He blew up the Oklahoma Federal Building in 1995. 167 people killed. 684 wounded. They blew up a nursery school. He was a violent fundamentalist Christian fanatic, but you wouldn't blame all Christians for what he did any more than you should blame all Muslims or all Jews or all members of any religious faith because of what one person or one crazed fanatic group does in their name. So, Mr. Chairman, I trust you understand all of that. I do hope we will return to constitutional principles, and I yield back.

>> [clears throat] >>

I thank the ranking member. Without objection, all of their opening statements will be included in the record. We will now introduce today's witnesses. Mr. Ammon Blair. Mr. Blair is a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. His research focuses on transnational criminal organizations, foreign terrorist networks, hostile state influence operations, mass migration, and emerging security threats. He previously served more than two decades with the United States Army and as a border patrol agent. Mr. Marco Hunter Lopez. Mr. Hunter Lopez is a student at Wylie East High School in Wylie, Texas, where he is the president of the school's Republican Student Club. He also serves on the PTA board and has been involved in national, state, and local campaigns since he was 13. I believe that Mr. Hunter Lopez recently turned 16. That's correct. Ms. Amy Mecklenburg. Ms. Mecklenburg is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Rare Foundation, a grassroots organization that advocates for American values. Her work is focused on authoritarian systems and efforts to replace democratic governance. Ms. Amanda Tyler. Ms. Tyler is the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit organization that advocates on matters of religion. She previously worked in Congress and private law practice. We thank our witnesses for appearing today and will begin by swearing you in. Would you please rise and raise your right hand?

>> [clears throat] >>

Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you are about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief, so help you God? Let the record reflect that the witnesses have answered in the affirmative, and you may be seated. Please note that your written testimony will be entered into the record in its entirety. Accordingly, we ask that you summarize your testimony in 5 minutes. I'm going to start over here on the right. Remind our witnesses to turn the microphone on. Uh, Mr. Blair, you may begin your 5 minutes.

>> Dear Chairman Roy, Ranking Member Scanlon, and distinguished members of the committee, good morning and thank you for inviting me to testify before you. My name is Emmet Blair. I'm a senior fellow with the Texas Public Policy Foundation Secure and Sovereign Nation Initiative and a consultant for the Operation Lone Star Task Force. As uh Representative Roy stated, I previously served as a United States Border Patrol agent in the Rio Grande Valley sector and have more than two decades in the United States Army. The issue before this subcommittee is not whether Americans have the right to practice religion freely. They do, unequivocally. The First Amendment protects belief, worship, religious instruction, peaceful association, and voluntary observance. Texas law does the same. However, religious liberty does not create immunity from the rule of law. A crime remains a crime regardless of religion, and no religious, ideological, or political system possesses a constitutional license to violate the rights of a sovereign nation, a sovereign state, a political subdivision, private property owners, or individual citizens. The constitutional issue before Congress is narrower but foundational. The American constitutional order recognizes dual sovereignty between the federal government and the states. It does not recognize parallel sovereign systems operating outside constitutional supremacy, judicial review, equal protection, due process, or the rule of law. The supremacy clause, equal protection, and due process clauses, and Article 4 guarantee one supreme constitutional order and one republican form of government. No religious, ideological, political, or organizational system may exercise coercive civil authority independent of the Constitution while claiming immunity from constitutional accountability. This distinction between protected belief and regulable conduct is deeply rooted in American constitutional law. Under the 10th Amendment and long-standing police powers doctrine, states retain inherent sovereign authority and the ongoing duty to preserve public safety, territorial integrity, property rights, institutional order, and domestic tranquility. States were never meant to function as passive subdivisions waiting federal permission before defending constitutional order. Texas stands at the center of this national security crisis. Federal strategic assessments, including the 2026 US counterterrorism strategy and the ODNI's 2026 annual threat assessment, identify cartels and Islamic terrorism as top homeland threats. These threats overlap and reinforce one another through hybrid and gray zone operations. Texas is confronting weaponized mass migration, cartel-engineered smuggling networks, foreign-linked governance structures operating within our communities, and systemic failure across the entire immigration enforcement and removal cycle. These dynamics have produced concentrated enclaves with limited assimilation and fragmented allegiances, environments actively exploited by foreign terrorist organizations, hostile states, and transnational criminal networks. Migration pipelines now function as operational infrastructure for coercion, illicit finance, transnational repression, and foreign influence. While all eyes are on conflict with Iran overseas, that conflict is not confined to distant battlefields. It is playing out right here on our shores. Iran has waged decades-long hybrid operations in Western Hemisphere and US interior, leveraging proxies including Hezbollah, Hamas, and Muslim Brotherhood-linked networks alongside cartel smuggling infrastructure. These threat networks increasingly utilize gray zone tactics operating under the threshold of armed conflict inside the United States through cyber-enabled influence operations, propaganda ecosystems, and online radicalization platforms to accelerate recruitment, coordination, and institutional influence. These networks exploit migration corridors and distribute institutional ecosystems inside the United States. They operate through nonprofits, charities, educational institutions, advocacy groups, media ecosystems, and political conditions to pursue influence, concealment, and institutional entrenchment. These networks pursue the very civilization jihadist process of settlement outlined in the Muslim Brotherhood's 1991 explanatory memorandum. That document calls for gradual institutional entrenchment to, I say {quote}, eliminate and destroy the Western civilization from within, {end quote}, by building parallel power structures inside American society. Mass migration at scale can create operational and demographic conditions that facilitate long-term institutional entrenchment when vetting, assimilation, and constitutional integration mechanisms erode. The constitutional concern is not private worship or voluntary religious practice. It arises [clears throat] where systems attempt to establish coercive adjudicatory structures, assert Sharia superior civil law, obstruct access to American courts, and subordinate constitutional protections to alternative governing authority. Texas is confronting this reality directly, exercising its sovereign authorities, including the governor's power as commander-in-chief. Governor Abbott has designated both the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations. Uh Governor Abbott has directed investigations into entities masquerading as legal courts staffed with judges issuing orders that purportedly carry authority to bind individuals to Islamic codes. The Constitution protects a broad sphere of religious liberty precisely because every person and institution within the United States ultimately remains accountable to one constitutional system, one civil sovereign, and one rule of law. No parallel system claiming supremacy over the Constitution can be permitted. Thank you. I look forward to questions.

>> Thank you, Mr. Blair. Uh I'm now going to go to Ms. Meckelburg for her opening statement.

>> Distinguished members of Congress, my name is Amy Meckelburg. I'm founder of FAIR Foundation USA. I come before you today out of profound love for this country and at great personal cost. For 15 years, I've documented Islam's assault on Europe and its dangerous advance inside of America. For defending Western values, Islam and its left-wing allies marked my family for destruction. They stalked us, they attacked my loved ones' careers, and sent death threats. Today, I travel with armed security. A simple walk, a grocery run, opening my front door, none of it is safe anymore. Islam has taken that from me. The hardest part of this fight though has been watching my friends pay the ultimate price. On January 29th, 2025, my friend Salwan Momika, an Iraqi Christian who fled to Sweden to escape Islam, was slaughtered as I watched. Sweden put him on trial for hate speech, for telling the truth about the threat that killed him. Salwan predicted his own assassination. He knew because the Sharia penalty for criticizing Islam is death. >> [clears throat] >> A 1,400 year-old war is being waged inside our country. Muhammad, the man that Muslims call their prophet, was a military commander whose mission was to bring the world under Islamic rule. The mission cannot be completed until America falls. Islam is a hostile totalitarian political ideology using our freedoms to destroy us. To every non-Muslim, it offers three choices: convert, submit, or die. It does not stop until every court, every school, and every government on Earth is under Sharia. The Muslim Brotherhood turned this imperative into a modern conquest strategy. Two seized documents, the 1982 project and the 1991 explanatory memorandum, detail their two-front plan. Build parallel Islamic societies that reject assimilation while their faithful capture our institutions. The Brotherhood wrote the playbook. Today, every hostile Islamic regime and faction is executing it on our soil. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan, Hamas, the Taliban. Different countries, different sects, all marching in lockstep towards one conquest. These networks operate more than 8,000 Islamic nonprofits across America, including 650 in Texas alone. They built a parallel infrastructure: mosques, seminaries, schools, Sharia banks, Sharia courts, Sharia clinics, charities, media, and political networks. They have no plans of assimilating. Texas and Florida are the Brotherhood's command centers. They are the clearest example of the first strategy. Build massive fortresses where Muslims can live cradle-to-grave under full Sharia. In Texas, terror-tied Imam Yasser Qadhi is fighting to build Epic City, a 402-acre Sharia compound marked as {quote} the epicenter of Islam in North America, {end of quote}. In Katy, an $80 million Sharia compound is rising under Brotherhood operative Main Al-Qudah, whose family are leading terrorists in Jordan. Hamad Ghazali, named in the 1991 memorandum, recruited Americans for Al-Qaeda. Today, he writes curriculum for Islamic school children across North America. Texas taxpayers are able to fund him through school vouchers. Across America, the Brotherhood is buying churches and converting them to mosques. A Lubbock school became a Brotherhood mosque in 45 days. In Dallas, two imams who preach hand amputation, sex with captives, and stoning adulterers are suing to seize a Christian megachurch. Garland, Texas, hosts the US headquarters of a Pakistani jihadi network that trains hundreds of terrorists, including the recent killer of the West Virginia National Guard member. In Florida, third-generation Brotherhood member Magda el-Kadi Salah runs a self-contained Tampa enclave. A Houston mosque led by an imam appointed by the Iran supreme leader received $1 million in tax dollars while children pledged allegiance to Khamenei. Another Hamas-supporting Texas mega mosque hosted public school field trips while its imams preached that the fathers and brothers can kill adulterous daughters. Members of Congress, there is a little Muslim American girl right now born in Texas under our Constitution with every secret right our forefathers fought and died to give her. She will never know any of them. Her own father, imam, and teachers raise her to believe she is worth less than half a man, and Islam's texts command this. If she is beaten, it is her fault. If she is raped, no American courthouse will hear her screams. If she is married off as a child to a pedophile, she will never know it is a crime. She is shielded from her birthright, raised to hate her own country, trained to subvert it. There are thousands like her and growing fast. This war's second strategy captures our institutions and cultures from within. Their operatives have penetrated our State Department, our courts, our school boards to subvert the Constitution and replace it. Hamas, doing business as CAIR, has trained 50,000 lawyers. They boast of this, journalists, filmmakers, influencers to embed Islam and rewrite our history. When we object, they scream Islamophobia. Their super PAC floods our elections, mosque-run voter drives. Beside me is 15-year-old Marco Hunter Lopez. He will tell you how the Muslim Brotherhood's student arm, founded in Texas by Yaser Qadhi's father, is targeting Texas children. For speaking out, Marco's safety was threatened. Our nation's leaders are failing our children. Members of Congress, the American people are awake. Washington is not. We must choose the Constitution or the Quran, America or the Caliphate, freedom or submission. There is no middle ground.

>> Thank you for your testimony. Mr. Marco Hunter Lopez, I'll give you some extra time, okay? Um, and to make sure it's fair. Um, I will now recognize Mr. Hunter Lopez for his 5 minutes.

>> Chairman Roy, Ranking Member Scanlon, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Marco Hunter Lopez. I'm a 16-year-old sophomore at Wylie East High School in Wylie, Texas. I've been invited to speak regarding an incident that occurred on February 2nd on my campus and a widespread effort across Texas and the nation. Last year as a freshman, I founded the Republican Student Club because I wanted to foster a space for students who shared the same values. What should have been a simple act of student leadership became a prolonged battle against school administrators who treated my group differently from every other club on campus. On August 16th of 2024, we met every requirement: 10 members, a teacher sponsor, and a room. Other groups, including the Muslim Student Association and organization supporting gender-affirming ideology, were approved without issue. Our club was denied for being political in nature. Administrators first claimed a district-wide policy against political clubs. Then after weeks of emails requesting the policy in writing, they admitted it was simply how they felt. Only after more than a month of emails, pushback, and enormous efforts were we approved. Even then, we faced hostile scrutiny. Principals were caught taking down our approved posters while I was out of town. I have a documented timeline of specific instances of unfair treatment, being pulled into the principal's office, cornered, and talked down to. After we hosted two guest speakers last year, the principal tried to impose new rules on me. My father even had to help create a guest speaker platform to protect me as a minor. This pattern of censorship against our club stands in stark contrast to how administrators have handled the promotion of Islamic ideology, including Sharia. On February 2nd, I was leaving a meeting and was walking to the cafeteria for lunch, and I saw a large booth labeled "Islam" set up in the school. Four adult women from the organization "Why Islam" were there. I was confused and did not want to give it attention, but after discussing it with my friends, we decided to approach the booth. I had a discussion with the women, one in particular who they kept referring me to because she knew most of the theological questions. As we tried to understand their goal, I looked over and saw multiple pamphlets spread out, one of which was explicitly titled "Understanding Sharia." This was very concerning to me and other students. They were also making Qurans available that include a Shahada card on the last page instructing students how to convert. Quote, "To become a Muslim, one needs to make the following declaration: I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship except God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God." This openly occurred during lunch with administrators present who did nothing to intervene. The dangers of allowing Sharia to be promoted in public schools are real and immediate. Sharia is not simply a personal religious observance. It is a comprehensive legal and political system that includes unequal treatment, restrictions on free speech, harsh punishments, and fundamental incompatibility with the US Constitution, Texas law, and American values of individual liberty and equality. Handing out materials that present Sharia favorably to minors during the school day without parental approval risks normalizing ideas that undermine the very principles our public schools are supposed to uphold. This is not neutral education. It is ideological promotion under the guise of diversity and inclusion. The contrast with my own club cannot be clearer. While the Republican Student Club faced denial, censorship, poster removal, and hostile oversight, an outside organization was given easy access to distribute Sharia-related materials directly to students. Administrators not only allowed it, they actively promoted Islamic events. The principal has enthusiastically participated in World Hijab Day 2 years in a row that we are aware of, when she wore a hijab and promoted on social media saying, quote, I loved this experience, all caps. The district now offers halal meals, a dedicated prayer room for Islamic observances, and has placed a Quran in at least one middle school library while no Bibles are offered. Conservative and Christian student groups have never received comparable accommodations or leeway. This is not mere negligence. It is complicity through selective enforcement and viewpoint discrimination. School policies and state law regarding outside organizations, religious materials, and guest activities were bypassed and ignored. No one stopped the distribution of the materials and Sharia pamphlets in my high school. After not attending the school the next day due to safety concerns, we had to meet with the school resource officer and two administrators. When my mother asked if the principal could notify teachers to keep an extra eye on me after I received these threats, the principal's dismissive tone revealed the lack of accountability and leadership. The administration has turned a blind eye or actively enabled the introduction of Sharia-aligned influence without while censoring other viewpoints. The "Why Islam?" organization and event has documented links to the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Islamic Circle of North America, and the Muslim Brotherhood, some of which has been flagged by the governor of Texas as terror-linked. Yet, district leadership has refused to address these connections. Public schools must remain neutral. They exist to educate, not promote foreign legal systems incompatible with our own Constitution, nor favor one ideology over another. What is happening in suburban Wylie is not isolated. If Sharia can be introduced this easily in a small suburban town like Wylie, it can happen anywhere. I urge this committee and lawmakers across the country to demand full investigations into these organizations and reject any ideology or political system that is at odds with American law. Parents and students deserve transparency and protection from ideological capture. What began as my effort to start a simple conservative club has revealed how quickly institutions can be compromised and captured when we remain.

silent. Thank you for your time. I'm happy to answer questions and provide further explanations for my first-hand experience. Thank you.

>> Ms. Honor Lopez, thank you very much for your testimony. Thank you for your courage in coming up and testifying. I believe you're the first minor in this Congress to testify in the Judiciary Committee, and we appreciate you coming forward. Ms. Tyler, you'll have a very liberal 5 minutes for your time to keep things balanced. You may proceed.

>> Good morning, Chairman Roy, Ranking Member Scanlon, members of the subcommittee. I am Amanda Tyler, Executive Director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. As a constitutional attorney and Baptist Christian, I'm honored to be here to offer testimony about how targeting individuals and groups based on religion violates our country's constitutional commitment to religious freedom for all.

In this 250th year of American independence, our country has the opportunity to reaffirm the foundational values that unite our diverse people. Core to what it means to be an American is a rich religious freedom tradition that protects the free exercise of religion of all people by ensuring that government not single out any one religion for special favor or disapproval. Our founders made a deliberate choice to disestablish religion from government control. They did so with the experience of government establishments of religion in the places they emigrated from and in the British colonies.

Baptists were instrumental in advocacy for religious freedom for all people in the United States. This advocacy predates American independence by more than 150 years. Thomas Helwys, the co-founder of the Baptist movement, wrote A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity in 1612. This work is considered the first defense of universal religious freedom written in English. In it, Helwys wrote to King James I about the importance of freedom of conscience of all people, including Muslims. Quote, "For men's religion to God is betwixt God and themselves. The king shall not answer for it. Neither may the king be judged between God and person. Let them be heretics, Turks, Jews, or whatsoever. It appertains not to the earthly power to punish them in the least measure."

As this history informs us, religious liberty is a fundamental commitment, and it should protect all religions. As recently as last year, the US Supreme Court reiterated that the clearest command of the Establishment Clause is that the government may not officially prefer one religious denomination over another, nor pass laws that aid or oppose particular religions. Anti-Muslim government action violates that clear command. Even proposed legislation targeting a particular religion can undercut our fundamental religious freedom by perpetuating harmful stereotypes and misinformation about Islam and Muslims.

We have seen government initiatives that manufacture an imaginary threat of Sharia as a way of sowing anti-Muslim fear in the past. Unfortunately, today we are seeing a resurgence, nationally and particularly in my home state of Texas, of such efforts. Efforts like these misunderstand Islam and Sharia, which means the path to water, and refers to the religious principles that guide Muslims in their beliefs and actions. This broad denigration of Sharia directly impacts approx- approximately 1% of the US population, particularly at a time of rising political violence. Targeting groups based on perceived differences threatens to exacerbate tensions and contribute to a culture of fear, discrimination, and violence.

The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding published its annual National Islamophobia index at the end of 2025. It found a sharp increase in the degree of endorsement of the anti-Muslim stereotypes compared to previous years. It also found that Muslims are the religious group most likely to report experiencing religious discrimination and the only religious subgroup in which a majority reported such discrimination. This includes social discrimination among peers as well as structural discrimination such as employment, immigration proceedings, and health care.

Almost half of Muslim families with children in K-12 schools reported their child was bullied for their religious identity twice as much as the general public. Roughly half said the bullying came from another student and half said from an adult, either a teacher or a classmate's parent. When the government itself targets religious groups with broad generalizations and baseless accusations, it only adds to the culture of discrimination that already harms Muslim families and children. It models bullying rather than respect. What's more, this targeting does not just harm Muslims. When any person's religious freedom is threatened or diminished, it weakens everyone's religious freedom. Rather than fear-mongering and distorting religion for perceived political gain, our country's leaders should be actively working to make the constitutional promise of full belonging without regard to religion a reality for all. Thank you.

>> Well, thank you, Ms. Tyler. You just nailed it right on 5 minutes. You didn't even get to take the extra time that I was trying to offer you, but I appreciate it. I will now recognize the gentleman from North Carolina for 5 minutes of questions.

>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you for calling this important hearing to discuss the threat of political Islam. We're blessed to live in a country Excuse me. We're blessed to live in a country that has the fundamental liberty of religious freedom. Religious freedom allows individuals to hold and express their beliefs without undue government interference. It does ensure that people can choose their faith or no faith and practice it openly. And it's important to protect our individual liberties from extremism that seeks to erode our values as a country.

One example of the extremism we want to protect our country from occurred in just 2025 when parents in Washington state allegedly attempted an honor killing of their teenage daughter for refusing an arranged marriage. This appalling level of extremism is incompatible with our way of life and must not be allowed to take root in our country. Mrs. Meckelburg, in your experience investigating instances of political Islam in the United States, how prevalent would you say it's become across the country?

>> When I In my testimony, I talked about there being 8,000 um organizations across the United States. Uh they're working in lockstep. It is extremely uh prevalent and growing massively.

>> So, in your view, does political Islam pose a threat to the fundamental values of American democracy?

>> Yes, it does and they openly say it.

>> Well, Mr. Blair, I want to come to you for just a moment. During the 4 years of open border policies under the Biden administration, people from all around the world came into our country frankly without any vetting. We We've seen that. The failure to secure our border provided those who seek to commit violent acts against the United States with a perfect opportunity to enter our nation undetected. And Mr. Blair, how did the Biden administration's open border policies impact the spread of political Islam in the United States?

>> We were mandated So, we were mandated to look the other way under prosecutorial discretion. We We released known terrorists. Well, we didn't know it until after the fact. Uh but we had multiple uh people from all across the world coming into the United States with falsified documents, specifically from Iran, who'd come in with Venezuelan documents under the guise that we would not be able to identify them, which was the case. And that's why uh later on uh Representative Gonzales was able to, through a FOIA, find out how many on the non-disclosed uh non-disclosed docket of the criminal illegal aliens that we released uh there were and I think there was a little over 600,000 of them uh that Border Patrol and ICE released during that time period.

>> And would you say there's security threats that grew during that period that we're still uh still dealing with even today?

>> 100% sure. I mean, a lot of the information that was given to us as Border Patrol agents when we were on the ground was misinformation. Uh and we had no We didn't have that that time, even to this day, be able to vet the information, whether that's going to be the sponsor, whether that's going to be the country of origin, even their age, even their uh or their family status. We couldn't really vet any of that. And so now, when ISIS trying to conduct operations or target operations, they have that that bad information where they're going out uh city to city trying to find those that uh seek harm to our communities.

>> Thank you, sir. I I want to come back to Ms. Meckelburg for just a moment. During this subcommittee's last hearing on this topic, I discussed how the FBI had successfully thwarted an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in North Carolina. In that story, you may recall, it was a national story. Christian Sturdivant, 18-year-old, sought to become a martyr for ISIS by planning to carry out a deadly attack on New Year's Eve in Mid-Hill, North Carolina, which is right in my district. Following that incident in North Carolina, I want to ask you, do you believe there's been an increase in ISIS using social media chat rooms and other features to radicalize Americans.

>> Yes, and it's something that we actually [clears throat] saw I spent 10 years really hyper-focused and working in Europe and it was probably one of the biggest threats the way that ISIS and many different other Islamic Jihadist groups are using social media are disseminating very terrifying videos and imams and their organizations they're pushing non-stop videos and non-stop recruitment efforts. Yes.

>> Thank you. Mr. Lopez, let me come to you real quickly in the last few seconds I have. Thank you first of all for coming and testifying today. Since that incident occurred and the school district officials took full responsibility for the situation, have you seen a change in how the school has approached student clubs on campus?

>> Yes, so I've actually you know, I've I've no I have a lot of relationships with a lot of teacher sponsors for different groups and they said that that they're trying to say that they're to say that they're putting these new policies in paper but in terms of the way that certain people are still being treated they are still conservative students including myself that are still be being treated unfairly according to the standard they're holding for other people.

>> Well, I applaud you for speaking out about this and coming to testify today. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

>> Thank the gentleman from North Carolina and I'll recognize the ranking member of the committee the gentleman from Maryland Mr. Raskin.

>> Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. The my colleague just spoke of a apparently Muslim family where there was an effort to kill their own daughter in in a so-called honor killing if I understand it correctly. Murder is against the law in America Whether the parents are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or anything else. Would we Mr. Blair, would we need a special law to deal with the situation like that, or does the universal secular law against murder take care of that?

>> The the current law takes care of that right now.

>> Good, okay. So, I'm looking at an article about Christian group, an extremist Christian group that calls themselves the Army of God, that's taken credit for bombing abortion clinics and lesbian night bars. Do we need a special law against Christian extremism or Christian violence, or do we just hold them to the general secular law against blowing up health clinics and bars?

>> It needs to be held to the same law and to the same standard.

>> Right. So, can you think of any situation where the secular law alone would not handle anybody's legitimate fears that they have of a fundamentalist Christian group, Muslim group, or any other religious group?

>> Unless it's idea based off the ideology of either the district attorney or the judge themselves, whether they adjudicate or not. That's going to be the difference, whether the that process itself allows for the adjudication of of that crime. As I said in my testimony, a crime is still a crime regardless of the religion.

>> Great. And and you know, stated at the level which you wrote it, I agree with a lot of what you said. You just basically said we've got to hold everybody to the secular law. Is there anybody on the panel who thinks that we need a special law addressing any particular religious population, whether it's the Muslim, the Christian, the Jewish, the Hindu, the Mormon, or what have you, or are we just saying that everybody should be held to secular law in America? And then I'm happy to open it up to anybody. Mr. Hunter Lopez, or

>> Um Thank you Congressman for the question. I think that you keep referring to a secular law. I think it's important to point out, I believe it was 56 of the 57 Declaration of Independence signers were were Bible-believing faith church-attending Christians. Believe it was the first original 13 colonies that required a declaration of faith. So, I'm not acknowledging that we

>> wait a second. Now, you you're you're traversing my territory now, Mr. Hunter Lopez. You brought it up. Um are you aware that the Constitution of the United States does not establish a religion? It forbids the establishment of religion. Are you aware that it doesn't mention God?

>> So, the Declaration of Independence mentions God four times. But, what I was going to say

>> of Independence law?

>> So, Declaration of Independence was declaring our independence from the tyranny of England.

>> Yeah.

>> But, what I was trying to finish saying is that I'm not you know, suggesting that we need to go back to taking you know, tests or saying that you have to acknowledge

>> Do you know that Thomas Jefferson was denounced as an infidel who who wrote the Declaration of Independence because he didn't believe in the establishment of religion and he and Madison were emphatic about separating church and state? That's the whole glory of our constitutional design in our history that they rebelled against centuries of religious warfare between the Catholics and the Protestants and witchcraft trials, Inquisition, Holy Crusades. America proclaimed the separation of church and state. What Thomas Jefferson described in his famous letter to the Danbury Baptist as a wall of separation.

>> That was a letter, not a law.

>> Okay. So, your position is that America is a theocracy?

>> What I You didn't let me finish my original statement and I understand you have limited time, but what I was going to say is I'm not suggesting we need to go back to anything that's in writing, but what I am saying is we need to acknowledge

>> Well, I think we should go back to something in writing. I think we should go back to the First Amendment.

>> Yes, the Constitution.

>> Yes.

>> Obviously, but what I'm saying is that you know, how I said original colonies were requiring declaration of faith to run for office. I'm not saying we have

>> That's why we have a First Amendment.

>> What I'm saying is that we do

>> That's precisely why Jefferson wrote it.

>> We do need to acknowledge our Christian heritage in America.

>> whatever heritage you want, but you can't impose an establishment of religion on other people. That's the

>> I'm not suggesting that at all. I'm just saying we need to acknowledge our heritage. That's what I'm saying.

>> Everybody can acknowledge their own heritage. Do you agree with that?

>> American heritage, not just any heritage. That's what I'm saying.

>> You don't think that you're allowed to acknowledge your Christian heritage or your Jewish heritage or your Muslim heritage?

>> I'm saying you members of Congress need to acknowledge American heritage.

>> Yes, indeed. And you know how we do that? By abiding by the Constitution of the United States, which is why that's exactly where I began. Miss Tyler, what what do you think about this whole anti-Sharia law law thing? Do we need a special law banning Sharia law?

>> No, because we have the First Amendment to the US Constitution that prohibits establishment of any religion, including Islam.

>> Mr. Chairman, I yield back to you within 5 minutes.

>> I thank the ranking member, and I appreciate that spirited exchange. And I will now recognize the gentle lady from Wyoming, my good friend Miss Hackman.

>> Thank you. In our previous hearing on this topic, I focused on how Sharia-based tribunals will jeopardize America's rights to equal protection and due process under the law, particularly in cases involving women and minors. We learned that the presence of Sharia-based tribunals in the United States date back decades, and that it is common practice for these tribunals to stray from a traditional judicial proceedings, meaning that participants risk losing protections guaranteed under the Constitution, as was just being debated.

One example of such a tribunal operating near Dallas before altering its website actually prided itself on being a unique institution of its kind in the United States with the intention of setting a precedent that would be emulated and duplicated throughout the country. That same tribunal further claimed that, quote, "Conflicting problems within American Muslim society may range from personal and family matters such as marriage and divorce as well as disputes among community members and those in positions of leadership. The courts of the United States of America are costly and consist of ineffective lawyers, end quote. To be clear, conformity to the Constitution is the governing factor behind the operation of our judicial system. The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Fourteenth Amendments are there to ensure that everyone has a right to a fair trial. While the First Amendment is intended to ensure that every American citizen can practice the religion of their choosing, it does not permit any parallel tribunal or body to supersede the role of our judiciary in the protections of those constitutional rights.

Ms. Meckelburg, Sharia-based tribunals often label themselves as offering voluntary services, but is it not true that individuals have been coerced into using these bodies because of social, social, familial, and other community pressures?

>> Yes, I was actually saying earlier that right now in communities all across Texas, all across different places throughout the United States, from birth to death, they now have full operational societies. That somebody could actually be born in America and never have to operate outside of and and deal with any kind of non-Muslim. So, within these societies, they have their courts. And if you notice, most of the imams that are the heads that are coming from outside the country are Sharia judges. And these Sharia judges hand down these different They They use many different names. They will say that they're an imam, they're a Sharia uh you know, expert, a Sharia jurist, etc. But if you go and you look, these are the people who are acting as the judges within these communities. And there's an entire organization around this. If you look up the Assembly Muslim of Jurists in America, they're issuing fatwas. We have fiqh council people who are also again, that's a Sharia judge. These are people who are putting out fatwas that you can kill apostates, blasphemers. This is happening inside America. And again,

>> a violation of the Constitution and the rights of the individuals who are involved in those tribunals, correct?

>> Correct.

>> All right. And another a characteristic of American courts is generally the presence of robust oversight. We have court records, decisions are easily accessible, attorneys are present, and the transcripts of proceedings are properly recorded so that we know what happens in our court system. Would you please explain how does this oversight compare to the operation of a Sharia-based tribunal?

>> This is handled inside the community, so you'll never know of of any of these things. And that's the problem that I always have with we we say when I say we're failing children and we're we're failing minorities and women and things are happening in these communities that nobody ever knows of, and there is no voice for the little girl who's being born in this community. She doesn't even know what her rights are in this country that she's being born into. So, again, she is answering to her family, she is answering to her Imam, and she is answering to the person who is the the expert in Sharia within her community.

>> But at the same time, she's not able to fully exercise the constitutional rights that have been have been bestowed on her.

>> Absolutely not.

>> So, uh in terms of are there judgments or rulings category cataloged? Are they consistent from one Imam to to another one or one Sharia-based judiciary to another one?

>> Yes, and I think that's why when you look up the Assembly the this one body, they are a lot of they're handing out the different uh they're handing out the different legal it's the legal arm within inside the community. But again, are there different uh variations that different people follow? At times, but that's why they have and again, if you look up the fit council where Yasser Qadhi is the head of or you look up a place like Amja where they're pushing out these different fatwas to that all the mosques are following, it does act as the governing body, the the the legal body, I'm sorry.

>> Just very quickly, in light of the disaster of the open border Biden administration, have you seen an increase in the attempt to enforce or impose Sharia law in the United States?

>> Absolutely, because within these communities, they are also the they're absorbing the refugees coming in. That's what they're hoping for to increase the numbers.

>> Thank you. I appreciate your testimony. I yield back.

>> I thank the gentlewoman from Wyoming. I'll now recognize the gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Cohen.

>> Thank you. I am uh the gentleman from Memphis, Tennessee has divorced me from their state and I accept the divorce. I represent Memphis. Uh redistricting, which we've had in this country and I was recently redistricted, is a bigger threat to our country than anything we're talking about here. Sharia law is not good. I'm not for it, but I think that Sharia law is where people have decided they want to be in the courts and they agree to the jurisdiction. They're not going out on the streets and bringing people in. In the legislatures in this in the South, because of Donald Trump's fear of oversight in the next Congress, fear that his extreme trampling of the Constitution, selling of pardons, emoluments clause violations, crypto schemes will be exposed. He has asked governors in Texas, you mentioned Governor Abbott, Mr. Lopez. He asked Governor Abbott to find him five congressional districts, just like he asked Mr. Raffensperger in Georgia to find him 11,000 votes. And Mr. Raffensperger heroically said no. Mr. Abbott said, "Yes, sir, I'll find them for you." That started off this round of mid-decade redistricting to try to create a Republican house that they couldn't get by the districts that have been made by the 2020 census in 2022 and often times by Republican legislatures. It was a Republican legislature that created my district that they then struck down because Callais gave them the right to do what they wanted to do, and that's eliminate African-American majority-minority districts and turn out people, African-Americans and myself. I'm I represented African-American district and have for 20 years and never lost a precinct in a primary where the African-American vote is 80%. That's something wonderful in America. It shows that African-Americans have voted for 20 years based on your ability to represent and your votes and your policies, not on your race. And yet the Republicans turned it around and say this discriminated against white people because we created a majority-minority district, which was created because we had slavery in this country for over 200, 250 years or so, where blacks were property. And then after reconstruction and a little bit of of goodness and fairness, we got into the Jim Crow South. And how many bubbles are on this bar of soap? And And many peas are in this but jar? And they stopped black people from having the right to vote and they eliminated black representation. Once they got it through the Voting Rights Act, which is one of the most important legislative acts of the 20th century, in my opinion, where Martin Luther King and John Lewis fought hard in Selma, Alabama and other places and worked with President Johnson and the Democratic Congress and a Republican Congress. Everette Dirksen was a big part of that. It was a bipartisan bill in 1965 to do redress and to give African Americans opportunities to make up for some of the awful occurrences we'd had in this country with Jim Crow and slavery. People died. Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman died in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Shot by racist law enforcement officials cuz they went to Mississippi to dare register people to vote in the Freedom Summer. Medgar Evers, the head of the NAACP in Jackson, Missis- say Mississippi was assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi. A lady named Viola Liuzzo went down to Selma to participate in the march and she was shot and killed by racist guys in Alabama. All of those deaths and and efforts and work put asunder by the Supreme Court in their Shelby decision and put asunder by Republican state legislatures in Louisiana, in Alabama, and in Tennessee. And they'll do it in other states, too, boot. John Roberts said the Supreme Court is not political. And then Alabama couldn't redistrict because there was an injunction for them changing their districts put in by the Supreme Court until 2030. Alabama asked them to lift that injunction. They did it in a second. And Alabama is going to have one less African American seat. Don't tell me, John Roberts, that the Supreme Court of the United States is not political. It is an arm of the Trump White House. They took this case up when they did because Virginia had given delegates to the Democrats and they needed to act. The political arm White House is sitting in the Supreme Court. Those are the type of hearings we ought to have. We ought to be have hearings on the changes in our laws that don't allow people to be represented in the Congress and changing the rights and the opportunities for African-Americans to be equal citizens of this country and it's being turned back. Sharia law, yeah, let's take it. Not a good thing. But nothing like what's going on in the legislatures and from the White House. America is being destroyed from within 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

>> I thank the gentleman from Memphis for his comments. I would now recognize the Republican from one of the New England states, but we don't have any. So, I'll recognize the gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Rader.

>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this very important hearing. Ms. Tyler, um you represent the Baptist Joint Committee for religious liberty.

>> That's correct.

>> Do you believe fundamentalist Islam values religious liberty?

>> I'm not here I don't I'm not here to

>> Okay, [laughter] how about how about the How about the Muslim Brotherhood? Do they value religious liberty?

>> I I'm not I I'm not

>> I mean, these are the groups you're here to you're here to support. The Democrats brought you here

>> I'm here for religious freedom.

>> How about the Deobandis? Is a Southern Islamist sect affiliated with the Taliban. Do they value religious liberty? They're They're represent They're in Texas right now, too.

>> I'm not familiar with that.

>> How about the Bar-Barelvi's? South Asian Sunni Islam sect. They're in They're in Texas, too.

>> I'm not familiar with that group.

>> Uh how about the Salafis? Let me know if you know any of this the Khomeinists, the Turkish Islamists, all represented in various mosques and Islamic centers in Texas. Do any of them value religious liberty?

>> I don't I'm not familiar with them.

>> Okay. Do you um Do you believe Do you believe religious liberty is valued up and upheld in the Islamic Republic of Iran?

>> Uh I think that that's a theocracy and so therefore it is not the constitutional democracy that we have that that is built [clears throat] on the foundation of religious

>> Yeah. How about the Taliban in Afghanistan?

>> I I think those are examples of uh Islamic states that

>> Sudan Sudan

>> Sudan. Okay. Okay. Why exactly would we want to import mass numbers of people committed to an ideology? And I'm not talking about Islam or at large because many Muslims I I think most Muslims probably do [clears throat] value that would like to live in a modern uh secular or democratic republic. Um, but we're talking about radical Islamists. So we're talking about these radical Islamists establishing beachheads in our country. Uh, Why do you defend them, Ms. Tyler?

>> Well, I I think What I'm concerned about of course we have criminal laws and anti-terrorism laws that

>> Okay, that's good. Okay, yeah. Should we enforce our criminal laws? Our anti-terrorist Okay. So we we should not tolerate sexual enslavement in the United States of America, right?

>> That's I think our criminal laws protect against that.

>> Good. How about honor killings for for a young woman who dishonors her family in some way? That that should be against the law in the United States of America.

>> earlier, murder is illegal no matter the justification.

>> Stoning for adultery, right?

>> Correct.

>> Child marriage, pedophilia, right?

>> Those are against criminal law in the United

>> Female circumcision is illegal under federal law right now.

>> That's right.

>> So, we have imams in many of these centers we're talking about right now who advocate for those very things in our law in our in our country. Why are we we should we should tolerate this in the name of religious freedom?

>> We tolerate freedom of religion in this in this country so we can believe whatever we want and we can act on those beliefs without necessary government interference. And in this case, there is a compelling government interest against murder.

>> Against the law against the laws I listed.

>> not allowed to act on those beliefs because it would be against criminal law.

>> Thank you. Ms. Mecklenburg, um I believe that tolerating these beachheads of radical Islam in our country is literally civ- civilizational suicide. And I think we've seen Islamist terrorist attacks in this country already. And we're seeing in many cases a lack of assimilation, not you know, not necess- not by generally people who immigrate on their own, you know, work as a computer engineer or in agriculture, what have you, but but rather when they they they they join these very closed groups that are committed to imposing Sharia law. You know, tolerating that seems to seems to be utter utter utter insanity. Um, and especially if we see what's going on in Europe right now. If we see what look at what's going on in Germany and in in in London and in in France. Um, tell me where I'm wrong.

>> So, as you said the beachheads, uh that is what Erdogan says from Turkey that he that the mosque is the beachhead. When you hear care speak about the mosque, they speak about that being their infrastructure where all things are launched out of. They are having these closed societies. The goal is and that's why you'll see with most mosque expansion projects happening in Texas, they are expanding and they are making these enclaves where all things emanate from that mosque. And if you see and you look in Germany as you were just talking about, Erdogan had sent hundreds of imams to head up the mosques that were from the Turkish government that a lot of them were then found out to be spies. And we're seeing in this country, whether it's Saudi Arabia, whether it's Iran, they're all sending their proxies here. And then they're coming and they're having the closed societies and they are the beachheads as you said.

>> Thank you. I yield back, Mr. Chairman.

>> I thank gentleman from Missouri. I now recognize the gentlelady from Washington.

>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a lot of respect for for the chairman of this committee. We worked together on a lot of issues, but it is bizarre to me to listen to this hearing. Honestly, now we've suddenly made all mosques the beachhead of terrorism across the country. This is a very important religion around the world and certainly here in the United States, Islam is a very very important religion. And I go to Mr. Cohen's comments about why we're holding this hearing. Again, this is a redo, by the way. We've done this before. We're doing it again at a time when we have so many pressing issues that we should be addressing in the Constitution subcommittee. We have the issue of voting rights, the gutting of voting rights by the Supreme Court, the dilution of the black vote in the United States, which should be at the top of our list to talk about. We have the unconstitutional war in Iran that has now cost at least 29 billion dollars of taxpayer money that we have not had a single hearing on. There's lots of things that we could be talking about, but see the problem is if we were to talk about any of those things, you would actually have to acknowledge how incredibly unpopular Republican policies have been in driving up the price of gas in this country. In my home state it's almost six bucks for a gallon of regular, almost seven bucks for a gallon of diesel. You'd have to address the rising cost of fertilizer, of groceries, um the fact that Republicans stripped health care away from millions of Americans. People cannot afford health care in the United States of America, the richest country in the world. We have 90 million Americans who are either uninsured, no insurance at all, or underinsured, meaning they have some form of insurance, but it's not enough to pay their medical bills. And that is why we have 220 billion dollars of medical debt in the United States of America. 220 billion dollars. But we're not talking about any of the policies, the unconstitutionality of all of the things that this administration has done that have really ripped apart the foundations of who we are as a country. Instead, we're going to have a conversation about this, Sharia law. And you know, I've seen in my home state of Washington, but across the country, the rise in anti-Muslim bigotry that has been happening in the aftermath of October 7th attacks and then in the aftermath of 9/11. Um and in my home state of Washington now, Muslim Americans reporting experiencing hate crimes, threats of violence, hateful rhetoric that increases those threats of violence, um discriminatory policies in the workplace, unsafe interactions with law enforcement. and this hearing is unfortunately just part of a much larger anti-Muslim, anti-Islam strategy that Republicans have been trying to drive.

So, Ms. Tyler, um I want to start by correcting the record. Has there ever been a piece of legislation introduced in America to adopt Sharia law?

>> No.

>> Does Sharia law require Muslims living in the United States to violate American law?

>> No.

>> And are there any state or federal courts that follow Sharia law instead of American law?

>> No.

>> Have you seen any poll in this country to your knowledge that puts Sharia law at the top of the concerns of Americans today?

>> No, I have not.

>> Me neither. Me neither. Nowhere does it show up as a top concern. So, yet the policies that are being proposed include the establishment of a Sharia free America Caucus and the introduction of a bill that would deny immigration status to anyone who, quote, adheres to Sharia law. Now, these policies are based on a myth that Sharia is infiltrating our American legal system and endangering the way of life as envisioned by our founding fathers. So, could you please clarify for everyone watching this hearing what is Sharia law and is it any different than what biblical law teaches Christians about how to observe their faith?

>> So, Sharia um is translated or understood to mean the path to water and it refers to the religious principles that guide Muslims in their beliefs and actions. So, it's a set of rules on how to pray and dress and fast and other dietary restrictions. And in that way it's very similar to other kinds of religious laws that Christians or Jews or members of other faith communities follow um to guide them in uh how they practice their religion.

>> Um, in many religions there are extreme and violent sects that don't represent the vast majority of observance of the faith. You've done some work documenting the rise of extreme white Christian nationalism and its influence in deadly shootings in Charleston, Pittsburgh, and San Diego, but I don't see any of my colleagues on the other side creating a caucus to attack Christianity or introducing a bill that would ban Christians from entering the country. Um, instead, they want the 10 Commandments to be posted in every public school, and we have Trump administration officials like Secretary Hickseth openly declaring that quote, "America was founded as a Christian nation and remains a Christian nation in our DNA." What does that tell us about what's really going on?

>> Well, I I see um, all of these actions that we're talking about today as singling out one religion for special scrutiny um, and to denigrate uh, a lot of the stereotypes that have been repeated here today to take um, the actions of a few and extrapolate that that's what somehow all Muslims believe. Um, when we would never as Christians say that for instance, uh, like the killer at Mother Emanuel AME Church um, who claimed that he was there um, because of his religious beliefs, we wouldn't say that that would extrapolates to all Christians. And so, it is uh, a double standard and a very harmful one that causes um, violence and discrimination against our Muslim neighbors.

>> And undermines the principle of religious liberty. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your indulgence. I yield back.

>> Now, I I thank the uh, gentlewoman from Washington. I now recognize my friend and colleague from the great state of Texas, Mr. Gohmert.

>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for uh, holding a very important hearing and thank you to the witnesses for taking the time to come here. Uh, Mr. Hunter Lopez, I'd like to better understand your story. I think it's important and thanks for being here and and being bold uh, boldly telling us about what happened. Um, can you tell us what are the requirements to create a student club at your school?

>> The requirements are to have 10 members, a teacher that's willing to sponsor, and a room to meet.

>> And did the Republican club that you formed meet those requirements?

>> We did on day one.

>> You did. And And was your club allowed to to be created?

>> No, we were actually uh notified that we were denied due to political nature, even though other ideological groups, including groups promoting gender-affirming ideology, were approved.

>> Why Why do you think the school had such a sort of obvious double standard?

>> Um, I'm not sure if it's the educational establishment. Um, it could be any of those. It could be the principals that have been in the system for a while. They just don't want conservative values. I think it's a trend we've seen with you know how Charlie Kirk was on campuses and on high school campuses. I think that they think conservative values are a threat because they're true.

>> And how has the school administration either encouraged or supported World Hijab Day?

>> Our principal actually wore the hijab uh 2 years in a row that we know of. It could be more. Uh, she's posted it promote on on social media saying she quote loved it all caps. Um, and they're just promoting these events like nothing, but our club on the other hand has to receive strict, you know, first of all, we weren't approved in the first place. And then once we were, we were the only club that couldn't have um other privileges that other groups had. Um, and they took down our posters. And so there's just a lot of things in this double standard clearly to favor the Islamic group.

>> Is it true that your school uh your school's libraries offer Islamic literature like the Quran and and other things?

>> Yes. So, uh McMillan Junior High in Wylie ISD uh offers a Quran, but no Bible available.

>> But no Bible. So, there's a Quran, but but the Bible's not allowed. Correct. Is that true in in multiple libraries?

>> Uh, from what I know confirmed it's McMillan Junior High is one that I know of. Um, I can look at the other libraries and submit them to you if I find any other findings.

>> Okay. Have Have you talked to the school about why they would allow a Quran but not a Bible?

>> So, I don't I haven't um the principals actually run away from run away from me and hide so I can't have a discussion with my principals um because I act like an adult and they act like children.

>> Yeah. Well, you're you're very much are acting like an adult. Um, they probably don't want to to be on the record um with that policy given how egregious it is. Um, when when clubs such as your sponsor visitors to come to the school and speak about club interests, whatever they are, are they subject to security screenings?

>> So, when our club uh has guest speakers including a state representative or a congressman, we have to submit 2 weeks in advance paperwork. We have to submit a week in advance uh background check. We have to submit their staff if they're coming. All these lengthy processes. I often have to miss my lunch period and skip lunch, skip a meal to fill these out. But, on the other hand, the Islamic group got favorable treatment.

>> Okay. Yeah, what were the security protocols that that were in place for the Islamic group?

>> From what I know, none.

>> None?

>> From what I know.

>> So, typically you you have to go through a a lengthy background process, but but this Islamic group didn't have to.

>> Correct. Obviously, they didn't background check uh you know, the organization because it has multiple terror links and they didn't um I guess they didn't check the Sharia pamphlets that they gave us or the Qurans with the Shahada card they had in um they didn't they were perfectly fine with it because principal was there that day just looking at it perfectly fine.

>> What What's been the response from the school since you've been public and and vocal about this double standard?

>> Uh like I said in my opening testimony, um when my mom had requested the principal to email my teachers uh cuz I had to miss school a few for the first day after that and had to go late the second day because of death threats and things like that. My mom had asked principal to email my teachers to keep an extra eye on me and the principal told my mom, "You can't." So, it's really that speaks volumes to the approach of leadership that the school has and the school district has uh because I guess they just wanted to dismiss my safety in that moment.

>> You You received death threats.

>> Yes, sir.

>> What What were some of the death threats? Could you tell us about them?

>> had people uh saying that they're going to be at my house waiting for me to get home and they were going to shoot me. I had people telling me to kill myself, a lot of different things, but I know nobody can proclaim anything over me because I wake up every morning with victory with Christ.

>> Well, amen. That's exactly right. Um, what what what is the school's response been to these death threats?

>> Um like I said, it that first day it was very dismissive. Um

>> So, in other words

>> terms, I actually received a death threat last year and um I had believe I have emails and I can submit them to the record of the principal saying, "Oh, things are already taken care of." Very um I would say downgrading it or just minimal- minimizing uh specific uh situations. I can submit those emails to the record.

>> I I just want to be clear. You You had a a threat against your life, somebody saying that they were going to come to your house and murder you, and your school's response was dismissive.

>> Correct.

>> I Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That's the end of my time.

>> Thank you.

>> Appreciate it. I thank uh my friend, the gentleman from Texas. I will now recognize the gentlelady from California.

>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. You know, of all the things to hold a hearing on today, why this? A Sharia-free America. Oh, that's right. It is election season, which means Republicans turn up the fear-mongering to level 10, and easy targets are members of our Muslim community. And this hearing allows my Republican colleagues to legitimize their religious bigotry. But today, I am not participating in this charade. I have hosted numerous town halls. I am talking to my constituents every single day, and no one has brought up Sharia law. It is not a pressing issue, but it is a manufactured crisis. Because you know what they are talking about? They're talking about the crisis of this Republican Congress. The Constitution says that we have oversight jurisdiction over the administration, that we have the authority to authorize war, and that we have the power of the purse. And none of that is happening right now. The Trump administration has launched a war of choice with Iran, and Americans are paying the price. The president said that he's not thinking about the pocketbooks of Americans. He said, "No, not at all." So, millions of people are worried about how they're going to eat this week. More than 100 million Americans carry medical or credit card debt. Job openings have fallen to their lowest level since 2020, and all of this has happened under Republicans' watch. Working families want to know how they are going to survive this economy, and what Congress is doing to help. And the Republicans' response is to hold this up to hearing. There are real oversight issues that this committee could be addressing right now that deal with the Constitution. Like the $1 billion ballroom that Trump wants taxpayers to pay. Oh, and by the way, he wants to get a cut from the contractor. The Epstein files, continuing to cover them up, no accountability for survivors. The treatment of

pregnant women in federal custody. Attacks on our voting rights and civil liberties. Raising rising hate crimes and extremist violence and criminal justice reform. Instead, Republicans are peddling anti-Muslim conspiracy theories and complaining about world religion studies. So, let's get into it. The Constitution does not require Americans to to abandon their religion to participate in society. It protects the free exercise of religion. Government does not get to decide which faiths are acceptable and which communities deserve suspicion. For many Muslims, Sharia simply refers to personal religious guidance about prayer, fasting, charity, or family life, not some attempt to replace the United States Constitution, and suggesting otherwise unfairly paints millions of Americans with a broad and dangerous brush. So, the religions that I know about are Christianity, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, and all are premised on peace. And real talk, any religion can get radicalized. And Christianity is being radicalized and weaponized right now. So, we could talk about that. The Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh, Dylann Roof massacring black parishioners in South Carolina, the murder of Minnesota Rep. Harman and her husband, the massacre of Sikh temple members in Wisconsin, the radically charged plot to attack the Baltimore power grid, all violent crimes committed by radicalized white evangelical extremists. So, you talk about American values, and Ms. Meckelburg referenced that women are less than half a man, that well, you know, we're denying women health care. You talked about failing our children. Well, we're doing that here, cutting snap benefits, cutting access to education. You talked about marrying pedophiles. Well, we're covering up the Epstein files. Islam's not doing that. The American government is doing that. And you know what? I'm not safe on the streets, either, and has nothing to do with being Islam, which I'm not. It's about being black. You talk about Saudi Arabia. Well, let's talk about Jared Kushner getting $2 billion from Saudi Arabia. No one seems to be concerned about that. So, if we're going to get into it, let's get into it. But, the American people deserve committees that hold hearings grounded in facts, and not bigotry. And there has been zero evidence that Muslim Americans are attempting to impose religious law on the United States. Last I checked, people are just trying to figure out if they have enough money for gas and to buy a dozen eggs. And with that, I have some UCs that I want to enter into the record, Mr. Chair.

>> Gentle lady is recognized.

>> Thank you, sir. From the scientific study of religion, Christian nationalism and violence against religious minorities in the United States.

>> A quantitative analysis from PRRI from May of 26, No Quarter, American Evangelicals and Political Violence.

>> Without objection.

>> From the Center for American Progress, a 2020, How White Supremacy Returned to Mainstream Politics.

>> Without objection.

>> And lastly, from The Conversation, August 2025, Active Clubs Are White Supremacy's New Dangerous Frontier.

>> Without objection.

>> Thank you, and with that, I yield back.

>> have a unanimous consent request. I'd like to insert a statement for the record from our colleague Keith Self, my colleague from Texas, titled Sharia for America, Why Political Islam and Sharia Law Are Incompatible with the United States Constitution, Part Two. Without objection. Gentle lady from Pennsylvania.

>> Yes, I Sorry, I have a unanimous consent request. I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a statement from Representatives Carson, Omar, Tlaib, and Simon, all of whom are Muslim American members of Congress.

>> Without objection.

>> I also have a unanimous consent request to enter into the record statements from the following organizations voicing strong opposition to today's hearing. A coalition letter signed by 35 organizations that work to protect and advance religious freedom and civil rights, CAIR, the US Council of Muslim Organizations, and the Interfaith Alliance.

>> Without objection.

>> Yield back.

>> Uh I'll now recognize my other colleague from Texas. Wait, hold on.

>> Just one more use

>> Yeah, sure.

>> Forgive me. This is by Jessica Waters. It was in MSNow, and it's about the the violent threats that she received after testifying before this committee and the questioning of Mr. Gill. May 8th, 2026.

>> Without objection. I'll now recognize the other gentleman from Texas, my good friend Mr. Hurd.

>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Lopez, you're a 16-year-old sophomore at Wylie High School. Did you ever imagine that your high school in Texas, of all places, our great state of Texas, of course, would become a breeding ground for pro-Sharia material and Islamic conversation?

>> I would never imagine that we'd have a hearing questioning the you know, legitimacy of terror-linked organizations going to schools. I would never believe we would have this, but that's the America we live in, and it's it's a it's a sad situation.

>> Do you think there's an incongruency in the way you are treated as a Christian in your school and the juxtaposition of that and the way that your school is welcoming Sharia law and Islamic doctrine?

>> Yes, there's a clear double standard.

>> It's a shame that we are here today, and I'm sorry that we have failed you, but this is why we have this caucus, because we're going to make sure that we get this right and everybody is treated fairly, regardless of your race, religion, or creed. To some people in this room, what I'm about to say may sound a bit controversial, but it's not controversial, because it's true. America is a Christian nation. We're founded upon Christian values. Our founders believed that our rights did not come from government, but they came from God. Those ideals shaped our institutions, our culture, our laws, and the very moral foundation and fabric of what I know is the greatest country in the world. Now, America is also a country that welcomes people from all backgrounds of every culture and faith. That's actually what is a part of our greatness. And as somebody like me that fought in combat to ensure that anyone could come to this nation and believe what they want to believe and believe in the first and second Amendment rights, I welcome that more than you could ever believe because I laid my life down on the line to ensure that that would happen. But let's be clear about something. Assimilation to American values and ideas matter. When we begin importing belief systems and cultural values that are fundamentally incompatible with the principles that built this nation, we should not be surprised when the social fabric begins to fray. Let me be clear. This is not hateful. This is not racist. This is not xenophobic. And I can I'm not racist. I've been black for like my whole life, like 44 years. I say that Sharia law has no place to use to usurp our Constitution in these United States of America and especially in our schools and especially in our public institutions. America's legal system is rooted in the Constitution and equal justice under the law, not religious extremism or parallel legal systems. We have learned from many of our colleagues on the left that this tends to be how they attack in this general direction. Ten Commandments, not allowed, bad. Islamic pamphlets, good. Ten Commandments, bad. Free Qurans in schools, good. Ten Commandments, bad. Understanding Sharia law brochures, good. This is the hypocrisy that we Christian Americans are quite sick of. The same people who mock or marginalize America's founding values suddenly become deeply tolerant when the ideology in question is directed against Western traditions and institutions. Meanwhile, Sharia law is normalized and distributed to children in school while expressions of traditional faith are treated like a threat. Here's how things should work. Math? Yeah. Free Qurans? No. History? Yeah. Sharia brochures? No. Science? Yeah. Shahada cards? No. This is a very simple idea that should be understood by all Americans. One of my best friends is a Muslim American and he is a fighting Texas Aggie, but he actually sees himself as an American first and has fully embraced our culture and what it means to be an American. That's good. That's what we want. That's why we call this place a melting pot. I'm seeing a lot of talk from my colleagues on the left, too, as we shift toward this reinvigorated talk about Jim Crow and the past of this country. And as someone who is a direct descendant of a slave, as someone whose great-great-grandfather was born on a plantation, I can assure you slavery is over. Jim Crow is dead. When I go anywhere, I don't see any white only signs. I don't. I promise you. I am a black man that represent a a white majority district in Texas. The great-great-grandson of a man born on a plantation stands before you today as a proud conservative Republican from Texas. As a believer and follower in Christ, and as a believer in what this country can be if we allow equality for not just Muslim Americans, not just Buddhist Americans, but also Christian Americans like yourself. God bless you, young man. You give me a lot of hope for the future of this country. Thank you for having the courage that you have back to remainder of my time.

>> I I thank the [clears throat and snorts] gentleman from Texas, Mr. Hunt. I'll now recognize the ranking member, uh uh Ms. Scanlon.

>> Thank you. I'd like to return to perhaps the purpose of a hearing, which is to establish facts rather than fiction. With that, I'd like to have unanimous consent to introduce a CBS article from February 17th, 2026, "Wylie ISD uh school district investigates how the Y Islam group set up on campus without approval."

>> No objection.

>> I mean, as that story and others show, that um the school district did in fact investigate why an outside group came in and set up, and in fact, uh staff members were disciplined for not following school procedures. So, let's just pull back a little bit here and and try to reground this hearing in some facts, because I think it's been pretty well established by now there's no credible evidence that anyone in Texas or in the US generally is trying to impose Sharia law on Americans. I mean, it's really this whole hearing is so offensive. Um I have a lot of Muslim uh constituents who are wonderful constituents and participate fully in our community, and uh you know, I'm very proud that they're my constituents, and to hear folks being vilified in this way, trying to have this anti-Muslim rhetoric, trying to tar every member of a faith with um the worst actions of a few is pretty outrageous, and especially when some of those actions are complete fiction. Look, it is a real change for the Republican Party in this country. You know, Ms. Tyler, in the wake of 9/11, we saw a spike in violence against American Muslims. And then President George W. Bush used the power of his office to defend Islam and American values. He said, and I quote, "The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace." And he reminded us that America counts millions of Muslims among our citizens, and they make incredibly valuable contributions to our community, to our country, and they need to be treated with respect. And our Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten this example and are using the House of Representatives to platform religious bigotry, so they can fearmonger in an election year when gas prices are spiking due to an illegal war sparked by an unpopular president from their party. But when the consequences of this demagoguery for American Muslims and all Americans are very real. Um you have to look no further than the Islamic Society of Orange County, which last month experienced a spike in threats after Ms. Mecklenburg Mecklenburg published some tweets without foundation that they were trying to start a Sharia compound there. It was complete fiction, but it caused a spike in threats. Ms. Tyler, can you explain how religious fearmongering endangers American Muslims in our communities and undermines the religious liberty of all Americans of all faiths?

>> Yeah, these attempts to paint with a broad brush um to bring all members of a faith again to um mark them with the actions of the dangerous and few um makes everyone less safe and makes everyone less free. Um I talked in my testimony about the real-world discrimination that Muslim Americans face um because of their faith, um but also when we think about the hate crimes that you've noted, um political violence of all kinds is an urgent problem in this country and as I hear about the threats that have been made to some of my fellow witnesses today that should disturb us all and so that the more that we feed into misinformation stereotyping that makes all of us less safe and less free as a society.

>> Thank you. I I appreciate that. I mean you know, we've got plenty of examples. I think my colleague referred to some examples of Christian extremists who had gone out and committed violence. We've got examples of a Tennessee Baptist minister who is an advocate for corporal punishment and even starvation of children. Three kids died because of what he was preaching, but we don't condemn all Christianity as a result as you pointed out previously. We have criminal justice and other American laws that deal with criminal behavior. Can you comment further on that?

>> Our criminal system takes care of the threats that it to the extent that there are real threats that have been put in the midst of everything else we've talked about here today. Criminal law takes care of that, but the First Amendment to the US Constitution assures that no religious law can supersede those laws and and that is protection enough and and that's why you know, these scare tactics are are really just that. It's not a real problem in this country.

>> And that's where you know, certainly not one who goes about citing George W. Bush often, but the impact of words and leadership matters when people demonize other folks. Mr. Chair, I'd just like to have unanimous consent to introduce an LA Times article from April 17th, 2026. Islamic Society of Orange County under heightened security after online threats.

>> Without objection.

>> Thank you. I yield back.

>> Uh

>> now recognize I think the general lady for questions. I'll now recognize the gentleman from Wisconsin for 5 minutes.

>> Well, thank you. Um I'd like to thank you for having this hearing. Kind of timely. I happen to in my own few hours a week that I have free, I'm reading a Lisa Phoenix book on anti-Semitism in the American University. And uh it's interesting to look at the number of people and analyzing [clears throat] what happened on October 7th in this country uh seem to be in on side of the people who were raping the little children and chopping off heads and stuff. It's shocking there were so many people like that in the United States. And I can certainly understand why a lot of Americans are are very concerned that people like that were brought into the country. Again, not an isolated couple of people, but it seems to me whole groups of people took the October 7th attacks as a uh as a kind of almost a call to arms. They seem to be in favor of this sort of thing. Uh which is kind of shocking. Um and I hope a mer- I wish more Americans would read those books so they knew what how people surrounding us think. Uh but we'll start with Ms. Mack. Uh I guess we call you that, huh? Ms. Mack, that's what they have here. For members of this committee who are not familiar with Epic City project, can you walk us through what the development is? And behind it, what the organizers have said publicly about

>> I- if you don't mind, could I actually just respond to something that you just brought up about the the October 7th? So, what I find interesting is on what what I heard her just say about um George Bush. George Bush after 9/11 stood with Nihad Awad, who is the head of care. After October 7th, Nihad Awad celebrated it. Nihad Awad actually was celebrating quote breaking the siege. So, when I'm hearing somebody refer to George Bush as if he is an Islamic expert, he is not. And when I'm hearing you're talking about October 7th, we have people in the room from care right now. We have people who are from care who have somehow managed to make themselves the victim of October 7th. And it's um still we haven't been able to have these conversations about how the largest Islamic organizations in this country were not denouncing what happened on October 7th. They were actually not only celebrating it, but they're still marching in the streets in support of what happened. So,

>> It's shocking that these people would be allowed in this country.

>> Shocking. And not And not only that, but they mock what has happened. They all of the things that you're talking about

>> question.

>> Yeah.

>> We've got horrible nuts out there and that's [clears throat] established. Have a lot of the Are there any mainstream Muslim groups who are attacking or boldly uh trying to separate themselves from these groups that seem to be in favor of October 7th?

>> No, and and

>> None?

>> I I haven't [clears throat] I haven't seen one group that has come forward and has been advocating and defending. I've heard a lot of victim talk. I've heard how they've been the victim. I've heard how they've been seri- dealing with hate and

>> Well, wait a minute. That That's That's almost can't be true. How about the other three of you? Has anybody heard of any uh significant Muslim groups uh trying to disassociate themselves or condemn those Muslim groups who are in favor of the October 7th attacks?

>> Not that I'm aware of, sir.

>> I can't believe it. None of them?

>> I I I have not done that research, but I can tell you that Muslim Americans spend a lot of time disclaiming violence because of being lumped in unfairly with again that that violent actions of the extremists in their in their group.

>> This is This is the game we play. We're We're talking here about You're talking about individuals and I'm talking about an ideology. So, we're going back and forth and we want to keep conflating the two, but Islam is very clear on how they feel about the unbeliever. And there's over 109 verses in the Quran that say I, the unbeliever, they they wage violence towards me. So, you keep trying to conflate it and I'm speaking solely on Islam. So, when as far as the crimes and the hate crimes you keep talking about, I don't ever see the proof of this. I hear a lot of accusations, but when I go back and I try to find the records, I don't see anything that is registered.

>> Just one more comment, Ms. Mek. In my district, we have an ethnic group, the Hmong. And when the Hmong have festivals, they are so they want they try so hard to be loved by the broader American community. They not only don't They not only don't dislike police, they hire their own police if they're having a festival because they're so concerned about what America thinks of that group. I I'm just saying You You don't see that that same thing uh from the Muslim minority. I've met with my Muslims in my area, but uh it's kind of shocking to me that nobody on on the stage here can uh give us some examples of you know, maybe donating money to the to the victims in Israel or whatever, doing something to

>> The gentleman's time

>> separate themselves from

>> The gentleman's The gentleman's time has expired. I I appreciate the gentleman from Wisconsin. I appreciate his questions. Um I'll now recognize recognize myself for 5 minutes of questions. Mr. Blair, you testified that you spent a lot of time at the border working with the Border Patrol former service in the United States Army. You testified that a significant number of people came into the United States from people from places from all over the world including places the majority Muslim countries, correct?

>> Yes, sir.

>> Is it correct roughly that we've had got roughly 51 2 3 million foreign-born people in the United States you know representing about 16% of the population?

>> Yes, sir. That's correct.

>> And is that have we seen an an enormous uptick of individuals from majority Muslim countries since 9/11?

>> Yes, sir. We have.

>> Upwards of about 5 million people?

>> Yes, sir. We have.

>> Is that having a significant cultural impact in the United States?

>> Yes, sir. It does.

>> Is that worthy of exploration and understanding that impact on our history, heritage, and who we are as a people?

>> 100%.

>> Mr. Lopez, people have been questioning about why we're here. You've testified here on the record that you've had very personal first-hand experience of desperate treatment based on your values as a Christian citizen of the United States and those promoting Islam in your school, correct?

>> Correct.

>> So, you've seen first-hand how there's a promotion in a small Texas town now in increasingly suburban Texas town of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in promoting an Islamic culture over a Christian culture in your school. That's roughly your testimony, is that correct?

>> Correct. And every day I have more teachers and students coming up to me saying that they're realizing what's going on because at first people don't want to speak out because they'll be labeled Islamophobe or xenophobe or anything, but the people are starting to wake up to what's going on.

>> Thank you. Miss Tyler, are you familiar with the significant amount of rape gangs in the United Kingdom?

>> I'm sorry, can you repeat the question?

>> familiar with the significant amount of rape gangs in the United Kingdom?

>> familiar with that.

>> Okay. It's been pretty much all over the news. Very large numbers of people being raped in the United Kingdom by foreign nationals in the United Kingdom with significant allegations of being heavily by Pakistanis and other individuals that have that have been immigrated into the United Kingdom. Are you familiar with that at all?

>> I I'm not familiar with them.

>> Um Ms. Mehlberg, are you familiar with that?

>> Very familiar, yes.

>> Right. And are you also familiar with the arbitration agreements that were adopted in the United Kingdom that have allowed significantly to have societies and cultures that are you know, separated from the civil laws of the United Kingdom.

>> Yes, I am.

>> And and that is a last 20 years kind of phenomenon, right? Where these arbitration agreements are allowing individuals in a separate community adhering to Sharia law to be separated from at least 85 different tribunals in the United Kingdom to be able to carry out Sharia alongside and separate from or even over civil law in the United Kingdom.

>> Correct.

>> Are we seeing similar things occurring in the United States?

>> Yes.

>> Are we seeing it in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, for example?

>> Yes.

>> Did Governor Abbott have to take action in order to deal with some of these separate tribunals in order to stop their existence?

>> Correct.

>> Um Ms. Meck, if you could um extrapolate on what I think is one of the most important things we need to address here, which is what you've mentioned, is Islam as political ideology. Do you believe that Islam is compatible with Western civilization?

>> It is not.

>> I agree with you. Do you believe that Islam in carrying out its mission is waging jihad against the West?

>> Absolutely.

>> Is that a part of the Muslim Brotherhood memorandum from 1991?

>> And the project and both memorandums.

>> So it is a part of that memorandum and other memoranda, correct?

>> Correct.

>> And are there organizations, not just CAIR, other organizations affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood to advance jihad against Western civilization including specifically targeting Texas in the United States?

>> Yes.

>> And is that documented?

>> 100%.

>> Are there imams that are active in Texas and throughout the United States that are similarly championing such jihad against the West to carry out the tenets of Islam?

>> We have them in their own words. Yes.

>> And you have you've put those online. They're out for display. You've seen words from Imams in the United States saying precisely this language.

>> All across the United States, but very heavily in Texas.

>> And so I'm going to give you the last minute here to to close about your concerns about why this matters. I'm trying to put a bow around all of this. We've had a massive immigration, a massive cultural shift, direct impact on schools for example in the in the state of Texas and a very clear mission tied to memoranda and individuals that have been frankly associated with the Holy Land Foundation prosecutions, other terrorist organizations, CAIR, known unindicted co-conspirators, and now we see what's happening around the country. Last 30 seconds for you to put a bow around this.

>> So what concerns me is we've imported an ideology that we have absolutely no education on and we have seen all across the country. I'm seeing politicians here today that are working with them. I'm seeing people who I don't know whether you know or not, but they're infiltrating our society. They have come here to take over the society. They've written it down in the project in a 12-point plan. You can read it for yourself. It's written down in the memorandum. They've come to make this country like they've made countries all across the world Islamic. So if we do not take action, we've already seen what's happened in Europe, we are going to be worse off than the UK because we have the thought leaders in this country and they are waging jihad on our society.

>> I thank the gentle lady um

>> And I I request that Ms. Taylor get her extra minute now if there's anything she'd like to respond to.

>> The ranking member has asked for an additional minute. Out of courtesy, I will do so. I will I will point out that I've given significant extra time, time to go over. I did so for the gentle lady from Washington. I did so for the gentle lady from California and others. And they would have extra time. I'm trying to make sure that I'll do that. But at a request from the gentle lady from Pennsylvania, the ranking member, I'll give Ms. Titus a minute.

>> Thank you. I I think one thing that's disturbed me today is that we are talking about political Islam. Islam is a religion. It's practiced by 2 billion people around the world and approximately 1% of people in the United States, about 4 million people in the United States. The numbers are a little hard to to pinpoint. But there's nothing inherently political about Islam. Islam, like all other religions, can be used as an instrument of the state to gain and hold on to political power. But fortunately, as we are all celebrating in this 250th year of American independence, we live in a country that's built on the foundation of religious freedom that protects everyone's right to believe or not to believe, to adhere to any religion, and that the government stays out of the way of religion. The government's role is not to dictate and there is no establishment of religion in this country.

>> Thank you.

>> I I think the gentle lady from Pennsylvania was happy to give time. I'm going to close by pointing out that the explanatory memorandum explicitly states in black letter text, quote, "a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house." With that, this concludes today's hearing. We thank the witnesses for appearing before the subcommittee today. Without objection, all members will have five legislative days to submit additional written questions for the witnesses or additional materials for the record. Without objection, this hearing is adjourned.

>> Mhm.