Feels like Pakistan, not Dallas: Row over US lawmaker's Islamisation remark
Republican Congressman Brandon Gill claimed parts of Dallas are undergoing 'Islamisation' due to 'mass Islamic migration,' comments that add to his history of anti-immigration remarks.
Republican Congressman Brandon Gill has stirred controversy after claiming that parts of his home state are undergoing “Islamisation,” saying that visiting certain malls in Texas “feels like you’re in Pakistan, not Dallas.”
In a video message shared on social media with the caption, “Mass Islamic migration is killing the America we know and love,” Gill alleged that demographic changes in parts of Dallas have significantly altered the cultural character of local neighbourhoods.
“I hear from constituents all the time who are deeply and desperately concerned about the Islamisation of the Dallas area. They're hearing about mosques that are popping up near land that they have owned for generations. They're hearing about these epic city compounds that are popping up where you have entire communities that are being transformed,” the Congressman said.
He added, “When you hear constituents talking about going to their local malls, and you look around, and it feels like you're in Pakistan, not Dallas, Texas, that's a problem. You're seeing our communities, our culture, the place that we know and love here being fundamentally transformed”.
Several, including Muslim community members in Texas, described the Congressman’s comments as alienating and unrepresentative of the state’s ethos. They pointed out that it promotes harmful stereotypes and unfairly single out Muslim Americans.
A Pakistan-origin doctor at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Centre, Hasham Sarwar, responded to the comments by sharing a photograph of Gill posing with members of the Pakistani community while collecting funds for his campaign.
Sharing Sarwar's post, Mehdi Hasa, the British-American journalist of Indian origin, called Gill an “Islamophobic fascist” and said, "I’m not sure who comes out worst from this pic: the hypocritical Gill or these Pakistani Americans who idiotically helped" him.
Meanwhile, political commentator Sara Spector pointed out that the accused in the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting, which left 23 people dead, was a “white kid” inspired by Trump.
"A reminder that the El Paso Wal Mart shooter was a white kid from the suburbs who targeted dark-skinned people inspired by Trump's rhetoric," she wrote on X.
Gill’s remarks come amid a broader national debate within the Republican Party over immigration, border security and cultural integration.
Texas, which shares a long border with Mexico, has been central to the immigration debate, though most migration flows involve Latin American migrants rather than South Asian or Muslim communities.
Gill, who represents Texas’ 26th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives, is known for making controversial and anti-immigration remarks.
Days ago, he had claimed that Islam entered the United States through what he described as a “suicidal immigration system” that, in his view, would ultimately destroy America.
'Islam didn’t come to the United States on the Mayflower. We imported it relatively recently via a suicidal immigration system. Importing radical Islam will destroy America just like it’s destroying Europe right now," he had said.
In June 2025, he responded to a video of Zohran Mamdani, who was then running for Mayor of New York City, eating rice with his hands, telling him to “go back to the Third World.”
“Civilised people in America don’t eat like this. If you refuse to adopt Western customs, go back to the Third World,” he wrote.
Last June, the Republican lawmaker also posted a social media comparison of California in the 1960s and today, arguing that “mass migration” has made America “unrecognisable,” and implying that immigration, including from countries such as India, harms the country. Critics pointed out the irony that his wife is of Indian origin.
In another instance, reacting to a large Gujarati volleyball event in Dallas, he wrote that “America is the land of opportunity precisely because we don’t have a caste system,” warning against “importing foreign class allegiances.”
Gill was elected to Congress in 2024 and serves on the House Judiciary, Budget, and Oversight Committees, including the DOGE Subcommittee, where he focusses on “securing the border, protecting life, eradicating government waste, and restoring America’s economic strength.”
Republican Congressman Brandon Gill has stirred controversy after claiming that parts of his home state are undergoing “Islamisation,” saying that visiting certain malls in Texas “feels like you’re in Pakistan, not Dallas.”
In a video message shared on social media with the caption, “Mass Islamic migration is killing the America we know and love,” Gill alleged that demographic changes in parts of Dallas have significantly altered the cultural character of local neighbourhoods.
“I hear from constituents all the time who are deeply and desperately concerned about the Islamisation of the Dallas area. They're hearing about mosques that are popping up near land that they have owned for generations. They're hearing about these epic city compounds that are popping up where you have entire communities that are being transformed,” the Congressman said.
He added, “When you hear constituents talking about going to their local malls, and you look around, and it feels like you're in Pakistan, not Dallas, Texas, that's a problem. You're seeing our communities, our culture, the place that we know and love here being fundamentally transformed”.
Several, including Muslim community members in Texas, described the Congressman’s comments as alienating and unrepresentative of the state’s ethos. They pointed out that it promotes harmful stereotypes and unfairly single out Muslim Americans.
A Pakistan-origin doctor at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Centre, Hasham Sarwar, responded to the comments by sharing a photograph of Gill posing with members of the Pakistani community while collecting funds for his campaign.
Sharing Sarwar's post, Mehdi Hasa, the British-American journalist of Indian origin, called Gill an “Islamophobic fascist” and said, "I’m not sure who comes out worst from this pic: the hypocritical Gill or these Pakistani Americans who idiotically helped" him.
Meanwhile, political commentator Sara Spector pointed out that the accused in the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting, which left 23 people dead, was a “white kid” inspired by Trump.
"A reminder that the El Paso Wal Mart shooter was a white kid from the suburbs who targeted dark-skinned people inspired by Trump's rhetoric," she wrote on X.
Gill’s remarks come amid a broader national debate within the Republican Party over immigration, border security and cultural integration.
Texas, which shares a long border with Mexico, has been central to the immigration debate, though most migration flows involve Latin American migrants rather than South Asian or Muslim communities.
Gill, who represents Texas’ 26th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives, is known for making controversial and anti-immigration remarks.
Days ago, he had claimed that Islam entered the United States through what he described as a “suicidal immigration system” that, in his view, would ultimately destroy America.
'Islam didn’t come to the United States on the Mayflower. We imported it relatively recently via a suicidal immigration system. Importing radical Islam will destroy America just like it’s destroying Europe right now," he had said.
In June 2025, he responded to a video of Zohran Mamdani, who was then running for Mayor of New York City, eating rice with his hands, telling him to “go back to the Third World.”
“Civilised people in America don’t eat like this. If you refuse to adopt Western customs, go back to the Third World,” he wrote.
Last June, the Republican lawmaker also posted a social media comparison of California in the 1960s and today, arguing that “mass migration” has made America “unrecognisable,” and implying that immigration, including from countries such as India, harms the country. Critics pointed out the irony that his wife is of Indian origin.
In another instance, reacting to a large Gujarati volleyball event in Dallas, he wrote that “America is the land of opportunity precisely because we don’t have a caste system,” warning against “importing foreign class allegiances.”
Gill was elected to Congress in 2024 and serves on the House Judiciary, Budget, and Oversight Committees, including the DOGE Subcommittee, where he focusses on “securing the border, protecting life, eradicating government waste, and restoring America’s economic strength.”