Cornyn Introduces Bill to Bar Aliens Who Support Sharia Law from the United States
The BOOT Sharia Law Act would deny immigration benefits to those who endorse the imposition of religious law, and equip Homeland Security with new tools to protect America’s constitutional order — following concerns raised by Texas constituents over Islamic enclaves.
AUSTIN — U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) took to the Senate floor last week to announce new legislation that would bar aliens who support Sharia Law from entering or remaining in the United States — a sweeping measure he says is necessary to protect the Constitution against efforts to impose religious law on American soil.
The legislation, formally titled the Ban Outsiders Openly Touting (BOOT) Sharia Law Act, is cosponsored by Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT) and represents Senator Cornyn’s most direct legislative action yet in a years-long effort to confront what he describes as the incompatibility of Sharia Law with America’s constitutional values. The full video of his Senate remarks is available here.
“America is a country envied by millions, or perhaps billions of people around the world who long to experience the liberties we too often take for granted here at home. But it’s also true that many countries do not share our values. Instead, they impose authoritarian or theocratic rules on their own citizens, as we’ve witnessed in recent years.”
Texas Constituents Sound the Alarm
Cornyn pointed directly to growing unease among his Texas constituents as the catalyst for the legislation, describing reports of immigrant enclaves attempting to establish communities governed by religious law — including the controversial EPIC City project in Josephine, Texas.
“In Texas, my constituents have become increasingly alarmed at immigrant enclaves that seek to adopt Sharia Law right here in the United States. Last summer, a group of individuals attempted to create a Sharia Law compound in Josephine, Texas, known as the East Plano Islamic Center, otherwise known as EPIC City.”
📍 Background — EPIC City, Josephine, Texas
The East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) had planned a large Muslim residential development — EPIC Ranches City — in Josephine, Texas. Senator Cornyn called on the Department of Justice last spring to investigate the project in light of potential religious discrimination against Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslim minorities. He described the development as “a very lightly veiled attempt at religious discrimination,” prohibited under federal law including the Fair Housing Act. The DOJ subsequently announced an investigation into EPIC City following Cornyn’s calls for federal scrutiny.
The Constitutional Argument
At the core of Senator Cornyn’s argument is a foundational conviction: that the United States was built on liberty, equality, and freedom of religion — values he says are directly threatened when individuals seek to impose religious governance on American communities or actively undermine the Constitution from within.
“Our country was founded on principles of liberty, equality, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech. We cannot shrink from these ideals by allowing certain individuals to advocate or embrace Sharia Law, nor can we allow advocates for Sharia Law to enter our country and actively work to undermine our Constitution.”
“We cannot shrink from these ideals by allowing certain individuals to advocate or embrace Sharia Law, nor can we allow advocates for Sharia Law to enter our country and actively work to undermine our Constitution.”
— Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)What the BOOT Sharia Law Act Would Do
Cosponsored by Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT), the Ban Outsiders Openly Touting (BOOT) Sharia Law Act contains three principal provisions designed to protect America’s constitutional framework from foreign ideological threats:
- 1 Bar from immigration benefits: Aliens who endorse or advocate for the imposition of Sharia Law would be barred from receiving immigration benefits, including asylum or a green card.
- 2 Expanded DHS tools: Equip the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with additional authority to bar aliens from immigration benefits if they protest the U.S. and its form of government, or support terrorism or terrorist groups in the United States.
- 3 Strengthened green card revocation: Allow DHS a longer period to revoke green cards and add new grounds to terminate green cards when aliens advocate for terrorism or terrorist groups, oppose the U.S. and its form of government, or support individuals or groups that carried out terrorist attacks on U.S. Armed Forces.
Building on Prior Legislative Action
The BOOT Sharia Law Act builds directly on Senator Cornyn’s earlier legislative and investigative efforts against the implementation of religious law in the United States. Cornyn previously cosponsored the No Sharia Act, which would prohibit American courts from enforcing judgments, decrees, or contracts that rely on foreign laws in violation of the Constitution.
🔗 Cornyn’s Legislative Record on Sharia Law
Senator Cornyn has repeatedly condemned Sharia Law and is actively working to prohibit its implementation in Texas and across the country. He also previously introduced legislation alongside Senator Sheehy to revoke the tax-exempt status of CAIR-affiliated groups accused of bankrolling terrorist organizations.
A Fight for American Values
Senator Cornyn framed the BOOT Sharia Law Act not as an attack on faith, but as a defense of the constitutional principles that make religious freedom possible in the first place. In his view, allowing the advocacy or imposition of religious governance systems incompatible with the Constitution is not an exercise of religious liberty — it is an assault upon it.
The legislation arrives amid a broader national conversation about the boundaries of religious freedom, immigration policy, and the protection of America’s democratic institutions from ideological threats — foreign and domestic. With Texas at the center of some of the most contentious flashpoints in that debate, Senator Cornyn has positioned himself as one of the Senate’s leading voices demanding that America’s founding principles be defended without compromise.
Faith & Freedom News will continue to monitor the progress of the BOOT Sharia Law Act and related legislation in the United States Senate.
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