“We have a huge problem in Texas, particularly in the Dallas area, with mass Islamic migration,” Gill told The Dallas Express. “It is transforming local communities.”
Gill announced plans to introduce a bill on February 4 to pause Somali immigration to America for 25 years. He cited concerns about fraud, abuse of the welfare system, and a lack of assimilation. He also linked this proposal to the increasing influence of Islam in Texas.
“Somalia is a predominantly Muslim country. This does, I think, speak to that concern,” Gill said. “The people of Texas are concerned – they’re concerned that their communities are being fundamentally transformed by mass migration.”
Islam In Texas
“Most Americans and most Texans don’t want to be woken up at 6 a.m. hearing a Muslim call to prayer. I certainly don’t,” Gill said to The Dallas Express. “They don’t want Sharia law in their communities, in their state, in this country, in any way whatsoever.”
An Islamic group called “Why Islam” reportedly visited Wylie East High School on February 2, handing hijabs to female students and distributing pamphlets on “Shariah,” according to Texas Scorecard.
Wylie ISD stated that the visit was not approved, according to a circulated screenshot of the school’s response:
Screenshot
Screenshot
“You see it popping up in local schools, including public schools,” Gill told DX. “You see mosques popping up all over the DFW area.”
The East Plano Islamic Center has been planning a massive residential and religious development in rural Collin County, previously called EPIC City, now renamed The Meadows, as The Dallas Express reported. The community sparked public backlash over concerns it might enforce Islamic Sharia law.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law in 2025 banning Sharia communities, and Attorney General Ken Paxton has been investigating the planned compound.
Similar Islamic developments continue to spring up across the state.
As The Dallas Express reported, a planned Muslim school outside Austin suggested it could endow the property to a trust named in a Hamas terror financing case.
Additionally, an Afghan national living in Fort Worth, Mohammad Dawood Alokozay, allegedly expressed support for the Taliban and threatened to bomb the DFW area in November 2025. The Dallas Express learned the suspect had been working as a private security guard in 2024.
Gill told DX he thinks Texans are “rightfully concerned” about what he called “the growing prevalence of Islamic terrorism in the United States.”
A Somali Immigration Moratorium
Gill’s legislation in the House of Representatives would pause Somali immigration to America for 25 years.
“This is a simple recognition that mass immigration from Somalia doesn’t make the United States better off,” Gill explained to The Dallas Express.
“Somali immigrants use welfare at rates that are significantly higher than Americans. They have crime rates that are significantly higher than Americans. That doesn’t do anything to make life better for us.”
Gill’s legislation would not affect Somalis currently in the U.S. with legal status, he said. It exempts those already in America before the law takes effect, current green card holders, and those with diplomatic and international organization visas.
“If you have some Somali who is in the United States legally, currently, this does not kick them out – if they’re here legally,” he said. “This bill just says we don’t want any more Somalians coming into America.”
Gill said he has cosponsored other legislation to denaturalize Somalis engaged in fraud.
Across America, 81% of Somali immigrant households are on welfare, according to a 2025 report by the nonprofit Center for Immigration Studies.
Meanwhile, in Minnesota, with the nation’s highest Somali population, 73% of such immigrants are on Medicaid, while 54% are on food stamps.
“We’ve seen the fraud in Minnesota, which we’ve been talking about for weeks, predominantly committed by Somali immigrants,” Gill said. “Somali immigrants coming into the United States, not living the American dream, not getting themselves to become self-sufficient and productive members of society, but coming here because they realize they can get free stuff.”
In November 2025, investigative journalist Christopher Rufo found Somali communities in Minnesota were funneling millions of taxpayer dollars to the terror group al-Shabaab in their home country, as The Dallas Express reported at the time. In December, YouTuber Nick Shirley uncovered potential fraud in publicly funded Somali-run daycares across Minneapolis.
“They defrauded the taxpayers to the tune of billions of dollars,” Gill said, “while Democrat politicians looked on, we believe, knowing what was going on and chose not do anything to stop it.”
