D.C. FIRESTORM: Chip Roy’s “Sharia-Free America” Bill Drops!

WASHINGTON — Representative Chip Roy of Texas introduced legislation on Tuesday that would ban foreign nationals who adhere to Sharia law from entering the United States and authorize the deportation of those already in the country — a measure that has ignited a furious debate over religious freedom, national security, and the limits of constitutional protections.

The “Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act,” which Mr. Roy first unveiled in October 2025 and has been building momentum ever since, represents one of the most aggressive legislative efforts to date targeting a specific religious legal tradition . Supporters call it a necessary defense of American values and constitutional supremacy. Critics say it is a blatantly unconstitutional attack on religious liberty.

“America is facing an existential threat — the spread of Sharia law,” Mr. Roy said in a statement accompanying the bill’s reintroduction . “From Texas to every state in the union, instances of Sharia law adherents have threatened the American way of life, seeking to replace our legal system and Constitution with an incompatible ideology that diminishes the rights of women, children, and individuals of different faiths.”

The legislation would empower the secretaries of state and homeland security, along with the attorney general, to determine who qualifies as an adherent of Sharia law — a determination that the bill explicitly states “shall be final and shall not be subject to review by any court” .

Any foreign national found to be an adherent would have their immigration benefits or visa revoked and be considered deportable . Those who provide false statements about their adherence would face the same consequences.

The bill comes amid a broader campaign by Mr. Roy and his allies to elevate concerns about Islamic law as a central theme of Republican primary politics in Texas . In December, Mr. Roy and Representative Keith Self of Texas launched the “Sharia-Free America Caucus” in the House, with Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama serving as the Senate counterpart .

In February, Mr. Roy’s House Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing titled “Sharia Law: The Threat to American Freedom and the Constitution,” featuring witnesses who argued that Islamic law poses a danger to the American legal system .

Democrats on the subcommittee denounced the hearing as a politically motivated exercise in anti-Muslim fearmongering.

“Federal, state and local candidates are trying to outdo one another with anti-Sharia, anti-Muslim sentiment in order to score political points,” said Representative Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania, the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat . “In the words of one Texas Republican political strategist, the Muslim community is the bogeyman for this cycle.”

“I can’t think of anything more un-American than for members of Congress to be stoking fear and suspicion against fellow Americans or anyone else on the explicit basis of their religious beliefs,” she added .

The legal and constitutional questions surrounding the bill are substantial. The First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom generally protects the right of individuals to follow religious laws in personal matters, as long as those laws do not violate secular legal requirements.

During the February hearing, Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a Democrat who is Jewish, compared the status of Sharia law in the United States to Jewish halachah, noting that both religious legal traditions operate within the bounds of secular legal frameworks.

“Within Orthodox Judaism, there’s a process called the get, which is that the couple may get a secular divorce. But if the husband doesn’t dispense this religious document called a get, the woman can never get remarried again within Orthodox Judaism,” Mr. Raskin said. “These guys are schmucks. They’re not giving the women the get, but the women can get remarried in a secular court if they want to. They just can’t do it within the religious courts” .

Ilya Somin, a professor of law at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, agreed that religious courts have no authority over secular law. “Orthodox Jews can recognize or not recognize these divorces as they choose within their religious community,” he said. “But as far as secular law in the United States is concerned, the law that matters is the law of the state of Maryland, in that case, or whatever state they happen to be in” .

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has emerged as one of the bill’s most vocal opponents. The organization, which has offices nationwide including in Texas, condemned Mr. Roy’s rhetoric as a “shameful betrayal of his oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution” .

“Representative Chip Roy’s public demand for the exclusion of an entire faith group is a shameful betrayal of his oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution,” CAIR-Texas said in a statement. “By targeting American Muslims, Rep. Roy is not only inciting bigotry but is actively calling for the dismantling of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty” .

The debate has drawn attention beyond the usual progressive advocacy groups. Legal scholars across the ideological spectrum have expressed skepticism about the bill’s chances of surviving judicial review, particularly the provision that bars court review of executive determinations.

“The bill would essentially create a religious test for immigration — something the Supreme Court has repeatedly held is inconsistent with the First Amendment,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, in an interview. “The provision eliminating judicial review is even more troubling. It would grant the executive branch unreviewable authority to decide who is a threat based on their religious beliefs.”

Mr. Roy has defended the bill as a necessary response to what he describes as a growing movement to introduce Islamic law into American communities. He has pointed to efforts to build a large Muslim residential community outside Dallas — known as EPIC City — as evidence of what he calls “Islamification” of Texas .

“If Texas falls, so does the nation,” Mr. Roy said during the February hearing .

Critics note that the East Plano Islamic Center project has repeatedly been found to comply with all applicable laws, including a Justice Department review during the Trump administration that concluded the development met all requirements .

They also point to the absence of evidence for Mr. Roy’s claims. When Representative Tom McClintock of California asked witnesses at the February hearing to provide examples of legislative efforts to impose Sharia law in the United States, none of the witnesses could offer any .

The bill’s prospects for passage remain uncertain. With Republicans holding a narrow majority in the House, the legislation could conceivably advance to the floor. But it would face an uphill battle in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and President Biden has signaled that his administration would oppose measures that target specific religious groups.

Still, Mr. Roy’s allies have framed the bill as a long-term project. “America’s immigration system must be fortified to counter the importation of Sharia adherents,” Mr. Roy said in his statement. “The preservation of our constitutional republic and its people depend on it” .

As the debate unfolds, Muslim Americans are watching closely. Many describe a deepening sense of unease — a feeling that they have become a political target in an election year.

“I was born in Houston,” said Fatima Hasan, 41, a physician. “My family has been here for three generations. And now my congressman is proposing legislation that would treat me as a threat based on my faith. That is not what America is supposed to be.”

Whether the bill ever becomes law or remains a political messaging vehicle, its introduction has already shifted the terms of debate. For the first time in a generation, a major legislative proposal has explicitly called for barring entry to the United States based on religious beliefs — and the conversation about where that line should be drawn has only just begun.