In a news-filled week, U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) sat down exclusively with The Dallas Express to discuss the biggest stories dominating headlines—from President Trump’s replacement of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem with Sen. Markwayne Mullin, to his decisive victory in the Republican primary for Texas’ 26th Congressional District, to concerns over radical Islam amid escalating tensions with Iran.
The 32-year-old congressman from Flower Mound, Texas, is a staunch advocate for many of President Donald Trump’s America First policies. He has often highlighted his North Texas community as living proof that the American Dream endures, stating it thrives “right here in North Texas.”
Gill has built a reputation for his straightforward, unapologetic views—particularly on immigration, border security, and cultural issues. In a March 5 interview with The Dallas Express, he shared candid insights on these pressing challenges facing Texas and the nation.
Noem’s DHS Replacement
Trump announced on March 5 that he would appoint Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma to fill Noem’s role at DHS, as The Dallas Express reported. Noem is leaving DHS to serve as special envoy with “The Shield of the Americas” – a new Western Hemisphere security initiative.
Gill said he had high hopes for Mullin’s time at DHS, adding that Mullin had “been a huge supporter of the President … he’s been fighting for the Trump agenda, and I think he’s going to continue to do the same at DHS.”
Gill especially looked forward to Mullin’s role in combating illegal immigration: “He’s going to operate the organization in a professional manner to carry out mass deportations, and that’s what the people want.”
Primaries and Controversies
On March 3, voters in Texas and across America cast their ballots in the primaries, with several races failing to show a clear winner.
Examples include the Republican Senate primary between Attorney General Ken Paxton and incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, and the Republican primary for Congressional District 23 between incumbent Rep. Tony Gonzales and Brandon Herrera.
On March 4, Trump urged the Republican runoff between Paxton and Cornyn for the Senate, teasing an endorsement and asking the other candidate to drop out.
On March 5, Paxton announced he would consider dropping out of the race if Senate leadership passes the SAVE Act to secure America’s elections, as reported by DX.
“There are multiple ways to read that statement from Paxton,” Gill said. “Again, I think it goes back to – let’s just see what the President does, and then we can start to analyze the different players. But it’s definitely going to be interesting.”
In the South Texas race for Congress, unearthed text messages showed Gonzales’ former staffer Regina Ann Santos-Aviles claiming an affair with the married Republican, as The Dallas Express reported. The staffer died in September 2025 after being found on fire outside her home.
The House Ethics Committee announced an investigation on March 4 into Gonzales’ conduct. The same day, he publicly admitted to the affair. On March 5, House leadership called on Gonzales to withdraw from the primary – a move Gill said he applauded.
“I was the first Texas member of Congress to publicly say that Tony Gonzales should drop out of the race,” Gill said. “There needs to be at least some modicum of integrity in representatives. And he has violated that so egregiously.”
Overall, Gill said he was happy with the results of the Republican primaries. He pointed to candidates like Jace Yarbrough, who led candidates in Congressional District 32, which includes portions of Denton, Collin, and Dallas counties.
“All of these are going to be, I think, good conservatives, good fighters, people who are coming up here for the right reasons,” Gill said. “I’m excited about the soon-to-be new class of freshmen coming into Congress.”
Radical Islam and Iran
Trump launched attacks against Iran on February 28, killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top Iranian leaders, as The Dallas Express reported. Since then, American and Israeli forces have been executing strategic strikes across the country.
Hours later, before 2 a.m. on March 1, 53-year-old Senegalese immigrant Ndiaga Diagne opened fire on crowds at Buford’s Bar in downtown Austin. He was wearing a “Property of Allah” shirt and Iranian regalia.
“You could describe that, first of all, as a reaction against the strikes in Iran. It was a terrorist attack from somebody who should never have come into our country to begin with,” Gill said to The Dallas Express. “Bringing people in who are going to shoot up bars because they disagree with American foreign policy is idiotic and suicidal.”
Following the attack, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said he received death threats in response to his strong stance against radical Islam and terrorism, as DX reported.
After the shooting, Gill called to stop Islamic immigration. He previously told The Dallas Express he thinks radical Islam is an “alien ideology that seeks to dominate American life.”
“No more Islamic immigration,” Gill said on March 1. In the recent interview, The Dallas Express asked Gill to expand on this comment.
“At a fundamental level, it’s that the purpose of our immigration system is to benefit the American people, that there’s no other reason it exists,” Gill said.
DX also asked Gill whether a ban on Islamic immigration would apply to individuals or to nations, as Trump’s administration currently restricts travel for safety reasons. He said this could look several different ways.
“Ideally, what you would do is determine it on an individual basis, if that can be done correctly,” Gill said. “But I do think to some degree, nation-level restrictions could be a proxy for the ability to culturally assimilate. There’s a lot of different ways you could make this work… but I think the fundamental principle that the people who come here should assimilate needs to be the core.”
Gill pointed to what he framed as two major principles of American immigration policy: migrants cannot be a “public burden,” and they must engage in “cultural assimilation” to become American.
“Whenever you come into the United States, you’re expected to become fully American, to adopt our culture and our customs, to revere our heritage the same way we do,” Gill said. “For too long, that hasn’t happened. What we’ve seen, in particular from Islamic migration, is communities and parts of our country be fundamentally transformed.”
As The Dallas Express reported, the East Plano Islamic Center is planning a massive Islamic city in rural Collin County initially called EPIC City – since renamed to “The Meadow.” This triggered investigations from Gov. Greg Abbott, Paxton, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“Islam as a political ideology is fundamentally incompatible with America’s governing system, with different ideas about constitutional liberties, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the role and dignity of women in society – views that just do not comport in any way,” Gill said. “We have no obligation to bring people in who have views that are contrary to our own governing framework and cannot assimilate.”
