Bo French, a Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner, on Friday said Republicans should more openly embrace Islamophobia and called on the U.S. to deport 100 million people, nearly a third of the country’s population.
French, a former Tarrant County GOP chair who has previously come under fire by his own party for his repeated use of slurs on social media, made the comments at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine during a panel titled, “Don’t Sharia My Texas.”
The number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. reached 14 million in 2023, according to the Pew Research Center, meaning that French is calling for deporting millions of American citizens.
“Since 1965, we’ve allowed immigration from lots of places in the world whose culture and values do not align with America,” French said.
French’s comments — alongside those of the other panelists on stage — were remarkable for how brazenly they embraced the banner of Islamophobia. His call comes as more in the GOP are speaking out against “Sharia law” and “radical Islam.”
“I’m going to say something that’s going to make some people uncomfortable: The problem is, we call it Sharia [law], but the problem is actually Islam,” French said. “If they can infiltrate Texas and conquer Texas, then what’s going to happen? They’re going to be able to control the United States.”
Jenny Story, chief operating officer at Patriot Mobile, said the Texas-based conservative Christian cellphone company has hosted a series of events with party activists since January to organize against Islam.
“That January 9 event that we put together really was a catalyst for Texans in terms of saying, ‘You know what, maybe I am Islamophobic. I am afraid of what they’re going to be doing to our great country,’” said Story, who spoke on the CPAC panel with French.
As Republican activists push the party to take a harder line against Islam, anti-Islamic rhetoric has taken center stage in GOP campaigns in Texas, with elected officials and candidates casting the spread of Islam as an existential threat to the so-called American way of life and a public safety risk. Republicans have framed their opposition to Islam as an immigration issue, arguing Muslim immigrants do not properly assimilate into the country and claiming they are working to impose their values on other Texans.
Texas Republicans are working to shut down Muslim groups in Texas, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights group and one Gov. Greg Abbott has designated a foreign terrorist organization. CAIR has sued, rejecting any ties to terrorist organizations and saying the label is defamatory and false. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows both placed beating back the spread of sharia law on their lists of priorities ahead of the legislative session next year.
Texas is home to more than 300,000 Muslims — more than all but four states — and long-established Muslim communities in Houston and North Texas. As of 2017, Muslims made up less than 2% of the state population.
Earlier this month, the Council on American-Islamic Relations Texas condemned the creation of an “Anti-Sharia Caucus” in the Texas Legislature and denoted it an “anti-Muslim hate group,” saying it was “rooted not in reality, but in misinformation and fear that unfairly targets Muslim Texans.”
For Muslims, Sharia referred to “personal religious guidance similar to how kosher laws guide Jewish practice or church teachings guide Christian practice,” CAIR Texas said. “It is about faith and personal conduct, not replacing American law or governing institutions.”
“Muslim Texans are not a threat,” the group added.
Still, French and the other panelists on stage Friday cast Islam as a violent religion that threatened American lives — continuing a shift away from President George W. Bush’s effort to tamp down the Islamophobia roiling the nation after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks with his declaration that “Islam is peace.”
“That was a lie,” French said.
French is in a primary runoff election against Jim Wright, the incumbent Republican for a seat on the Railroad Commission — a state board that regulates oil and gas production. He lambasted Republican politicians in Texas for what he described as a failure to adequately address the issue over the past three decades.
“The grassroots are screaming about it. Politicians are finally talking about it on the campaign trail. Where have they been for the last 30 years?” French said.
At a later panel at CPAC, Gov. Greg Abbott touted his efforts to counter Islam in Texas, saying it was “something that we’ve been fighting for well over a decade.”
