Brandon Gill speaks out against ‘Islamization of Texas,’ anti-American Ilhan Omar at RJC

Gill, a first-term congressman from North Texas, opened his remarks by recounting a confrontation he said he had with Omar after he suggested on social media that the Minnesota Democrat should be deported.

"One of the people that I got to meet, not long after getting elected, was somebody by the name of fellow Congresswoman Ilhan Omar," Gill told the crowd who booed in reaction to her name.

Gill said the two were at late-night votes on the House Budget Committee when Omar confronted him. "She was really angry at me," Gill said. "And she was angry because I might have tweeted that America would be better off if she were deported."

The audience applauded before Gill added that Omar got in his face and began cursing at him. "She's really angry, and it's unbelievably vulgar. I mean, like, cursing like a sailor," Gill recalled, saying he stood silently while Omar continued.

"And the whole time, I'm just standing there, and all I could think of was, man, do you kiss your brother with that mouth?"

The punchline drew laughter and applause from the audience.

Gill then turned to immigration, telling attendees that his wife and two young children remind him why he views the issue as central to the conservative movement. "Our job as conservatives is to conserve our country so that our children and our grandchildren get to inherit the same nation and get to enjoy the same opportunities and get to experience the same culture that we got to enjoy," Gill said.

The congressman argued that immigration may be "the most important issue that we deal with today" because it affects virtually every aspect of American life and will determine the country's future identity.

"American immigration policy is what will determine whether the America as we see it today will even exist 50 years from now," Gill said. "And I'm not just referring to illegal immigration, I'm also referring to legal immigration."

Gill directly linked immigration policy to the rise of antisemitism and pro-Hamas sentiment in the United States. "Ask yourself, why are we seeing in the past few years an increase in antisemitism? Why are we seeing an increase in pro-Hamas sentiment in the United States?" Gill asked. "Well, it's in part because of our immigration policy, because we've imported these ideas."

Gill pointed to his questioning of a Democratic witness during a House Oversight Committee hearing examining the Minnesota-Somali fraud scandal. During the hearing, Gill said he asked the witness whether large-scale immigration from Somalia had made Minnesota stronger. The witness responded that it had.

"I said, okay, that's interesting. What percentage of Somali immigrants in Minnesota are on welfare? He said, I don't know. I said, it's 81 percent," Gill told the audience.

Gill continued: "What percentage of Somali immigrants in Minnesota are on welfare, even after being in the United States for 10 years or longer? He said, I don't know. I said, it's 78 percent."

"That is absolutely astounding," Gill said. "And now can you tell me with a straight face that that makes America stronger or more prosperous in any meaningful way? Obviously not."

"Importing people who hop on welfare or defraud the federal government makes America weaker and worse off in virtually every conceivable way," Gill added.

"And it doesn't matter if they came here legally or not."

"What else makes America weaker?" he continued. "Importing people who hate it."

Gill then addressed Islam and immigration, telling attendees that constituents in his North Texas district regularly raise concerns with him about what he described as the "Islamization of Texas."

"Mosques are popping up everywhere. Islam is entering our schools and it's transforming our communities," Gill said. "And let's be really, really clear about this. Islam is here because of America's immigration policy."

"Islam is not native to America. And it certainly did not come here on the Mayflower," Gill continued. "It came here because we imported it."

Gill argued that Islamic ideology is "fundamentally incompatible with our way of life and with our governing system," contrasting what he described as American and Islamic views of freedom of speech, religious liberty, separation of church and state, and the role of women.

"We always hear the left complain about Christian nationalism," Gill said. "I'd love to hear them speak up against Islamic nationalism in the United States."

"Why in the world would we allow people whose core principles are antithetical to our own to immigrate into the United States, whether legally or not?" Gill asked. "Why would we import alien ideologies and belief systems that do not comport with our own governing constitutional structure? We shouldn't."

"Because doing so is not only idiotic, but it is suicidal," he added.

Gill acknowledged that his remarks would likely result in accusations that he is "bigoted or racist or xenophobic," but said such attacks no longer deter him.

"Calling us racist does not work anymore. Because you know what? I don't care what you call me, I just want my children to grow up in a country that they actually recognize," Gill said.

He closed by returning to the connection he drew between immigration, national identity and antisemitism. "Our job as conservatives is to conserve our country. We cannot do that by importing welfare queens and we cannot do that by importing people who hate us," Gill said. "If we want to conserve America, let's start with our immigration policy. Let's do it truthfully and boldly—because we have a country to save."

"The only reason our immigration system exists is for the benefit of the American people," Gill said. "And we should ensure that it continues that way, and that we're not importing people that will tear our country apart."