Mike Simpson Racist Immigration Idaho

Mike Simpson Just Signed On to a Bill to Keep Out and Deport Every Foreigner Who 'Observes Sharia.' A Law Professor Testified That Means 'All or Most Muslims.'

Mike Simpson cosponsored H.R. 5722 and joined the Sharia-Free America Caucus — a group the Council on American-Islamic Relations designated an anti-Muslim hate group, whose legislation it says would effectively make practicing Islam illegal.

MAGA Report Cards · Oct 03, 2026

Mike Simpson has represented eastern Idaho in Congress since 1999. On October 2, his office announced he had joined a House caucus that a national civil rights group has labeled an anti-Muslim hate group.

In a press release from his own office, Simpson announced he has cosponsored H.R. 5722, the "Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act," and joined the Sharia-Free America Caucus.

His office describes the bill this way: it "would prevent all foreign nationals who observe Sharia from entering the United States or from remaining in the country."

What "observe Sharia" actually means

Sharia isn't a secret legal code. It's Islamic religious law — and when the bill got a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing in February, George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin testified against it, describing "adherents of Sharia law" as "a category that includes all or most Muslims."

Under the bill's text, as Somin quotes it, any immigrant the government finds to be "an adherent of Sharia law" would lose their visa or immigration status, be deportable, and "shall be removed from the United States." Somin called it "blatant discrimination on the basis of religious belief" that violates the First Amendment's free speech and free exercise protections — and said it would actually "harm national security by playing into the hands of radical Islamists and terrorists."

So in plain terms: a religious test aimed at Muslims.

The caucus he joined

The Sharia-Free America Caucus was founded in December 2025 by Texas Republicans Keith Self and Chip Roy. Chip Roy is the author of H.R. 5722.

In February, the Council on American-Islamic Relations designated the caucus an anti-Muslim hate group — the first congressional caucus to get that label in CAIR's 32-year history. CAIR said the caucus's legislation "would effectively render the practice of Islam illegal."

Simpson joins a roster that includes members we've already written about. Byron Donalds told a town hall that blocking Sharia law is the No. 1 way to stop another 9/11 — Sharia had nothing to do with 9/11. Josh Brecheen warned about the Ottoman Empire, and a man in his own town-hall audience burst out laughing.

His reason: September 11

Simpson's statement ties it to the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks: "Americans nationwide just remembered 25 years since radical Islamic terrorists killed 2,977 people, and the threat of Sharia law in the United States continues to be on the rise."

He doesn't say what that rising threat is. The scare isn't new: the panic in other states has been built on claims like a "Sharia takeover" in Little Rock that turned out to be five houses, two of them lived in by Christians.

What the bill would do is real, though. It would let the government judge a foreign visitor or legal resident by their religious practice, and keep them out or send them away for it.

What the record shows

Mike Simpson cosponsored H.R. 5722, a bill his own office says would keep out and remove every foreign national who "observes Sharia" — a category a law professor told Congress includes "all or most Muslims" — and joined the Sharia-Free America Caucus, which CAIR has designated an anti-Muslim hate group. His stated reason was the 9/11 anniversary and an unspecified rising "threat of Sharia law."