Commentary: Big Tent Ideas

REP. MARK ALFORD: Time To Counter Escalating Radical Islam Menace In America

[Screenshot/YouTube/East Plano Islamic Center]

If the American experiment is to survive, we must wake up to the rapidly escalating threat of radical Islam here at home. After an era of open borders and the left’s continued efforts to stifle reasonable debate about the effects of third world immigration, America grapples with the corrosive advance of radical Islam.  This ideology foments violence, rejects our foundational liberties, and undermines the Judeo-Christian values of our great nation’s founding.

If our republic is to not only survive, but thrive, we must rethink our immigration and vetting policies to protect our national security, communities, and way of life. Becoming an American is more than a stamp on a passport or the issuance of a green card. To become an American, one must accept the ideals of our founding documents and truly assimilate to our culture. As the old saying goes, America is meant to be a melting pot, not a salad bowl.

An Afghan migrant’s recent targeted shooting of two National Guardsmen—assassinating one hero and leaving another servicemember in critical condition while shouting “Allahu Akbar”—is a stark reminder of this imported jihadist peril.

This outrage is but one thread in a tapestry of terror, as communities across America suffer from the encroachment of radical Islam. At the very beginning of this year, a violent radical Islamic terrorist attack in New Orleans killed 14 people.

Americans in Minneapolis, which harbors the country’s most expansive Somali Muslim diaspora, witness radical Islamic factions and Sharia-driven edicts fray the fabric of civil society. Members of Minnesota’s Somali Muslim population also developed an elaborate and complex fraud ring, stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the state’s social services programs, which are meant to help Americans in need, and then allegedly funneling these taxpayer funds to designated terrorist group Al-Shabab.

Hamtramck, Mich.—now led by a Muslim-majority city council—ignited alarms over prospective Sharia governance, fueling nationwide unease. Dearborn grapples with similar allegations of corruption and theft of taxpayer funds.

In Texas, the envisioned “Epic City”—a Muslim-exclusive enclave tied to the East Plano Islamic Center—sparked Department of Justice probes for the imposition of Sharia-law and discriminatory practices, while drawing condemnation from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican Sen. John Cornyn.

Closer to my home in the suburbs of Kansas City, Imam Muhammad Tarife delivered a sermon at Kansas City’s Islamic Center, which exemplified radical Islam’s rhetoric against innocent civilians. The sermon’s message, shared online last month, heralded Gaza’s “new page of Jihad and sacrifice,” then invoked prayers for obliterating “the criminal Zionists” and slaying Jewish community members. Soon afterwards, our office contacted Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, demanding scrutiny of surging antisemitism and terror affiliations at the Kansas City Islamic Center.

Statements like these, publicly streamed online, contribute to a growing climate of radicalization and pose a direct threat to Jewish Americans and our national security. Freedom of speech and religion must never serve as a shield for Islamic radicalization and terror, especially when potentially tied to designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

Despite the conclusion of the Global War on Terror, radical Islam’s global menace endures as it ignites domestically radicalized jihadists relentlessly. Since 2020, radical Islamic terror’s domestic imprint has deepened, with lone-wolf assaults climbing sharply. This year’s Global Terrorism Index documents an 11% surge in fatalities from the four most lethal groups, including Islamic State offshoots. The Homeland Threat Assessment for 2025 flags multifaceted dangers from violent extremists to critical infrastructure. Echoing trends since 2011, Western Islamic radicalization has ballooned, birthing “homegrown” threats that erode the security of our families and neighborhoods.

All of these episodes are orchestrated, woven into radical Islam’s enduring blueprint: migration as conquest. Historically, Islamic conquest typically arrives in four main phases: migration and infiltration, cultural subversion, jihad, and Sharia imposition. Antiquity furnishes analogs—from sevenths to eighth century Arab influxes to Europe’s exploding Muslim population via migration.

These violent attacks, proliferation of crime, alarming statistics, and revealing historical patterns reveal how lax immigration policies ferried lethal threats into our homeland. The survival of our Republic hinges on unapologetic action. Fail, and history will mourn the fall of the last bastion of freedom. That’s why I strongly support the Trump Administration’s actions to impose a moratorium on immigration from third world countries. This pause will give the federal government time to reexamine its vetting procedures, investigate domestic Islamic extremism and radicalization, and protect America from the escalating threat of radical Islam.

Congressman Mark Alford represents Missouri’s Fourth District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He serves on the powerful House Appropriations Committee and the House Small Business Committee, where he chairs the Subcommittee on Oversight Investigations and Regulations.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/YouTube/East Plano Islamic Center)