Chip Roy

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who is running for Texas attorney general, told Newsmax on Thursday that he is introducing legislation to stop radical foreign Muslim clerics from entering the United States, arguing that America's visa system is being abused by extremists who openly oppose Western values.

During an appearance on "Ed Henry: The Big Take," Roy said the Inhibiting Militant Adversarial Mullahs Act would prevent radical Islamic clerics and imams from using religious worker visas to gain entry into the country.

"Right now, we have — through our goodwill, frankly — a very expansive visa program," the congressman told host Ed Henry. "We have R-1 visas that are enabled to be used for clergy and clerics around the world to be able to come to the United States."

Roy said legitimate religious leaders should still be welcome in America, but he argued the U.S. should not make it easier for radical Islamic figures to spread extremist ideology.

"If you've got a visiting priest from Italy that wants to come work at a Catholic church somewhere in America, I mean, that's all fine, however they do that," he said.

"But to have radical Muslim clerics — imams — that are coming to the United States and are advancing the Islamification of the state of Texas, in my case, or all of America, that's wrong. And we shouldn't be making it easy for that to happen and occur."

Roy tied the legislation to his push for tougher immigration controls, saying the federal government has failed to stop widespread abuse of the legal immigration system.

"So, look, I think we ought to peel back visas generally. I think we ought to put a freeze on all immigration," he said.

"I introduced the PAUSE [Pausing All Admissions Until Security Ensured] Act last fall, and I keep introducing smaller measures that aren't as broad as the PAUSE Act, just to highlight the absurdity of some of the things that we're doing," Roy said.

The Texas Republican also pointed to what he described as growing national security concerns involving foreign nationals entering the country under existing visa programs.

"We've got so much exploitation of our legal immigration system. They're taking advantage of our goodwill to move people into our country who literally have stated publicly they want to wage jihad with the West, they want to carry out the Islamification of America," Roy said.

"And that is something that we should not tolerate."

Roy's proposed legislation would build on the aggressive legal efforts of outgoing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has targeted a massive Islamic-centered development tied to the East Plano Islamic Center in North Texas.

Paxton filed lawsuits seeking to block the proposed community, formerly known as EPIC City and later renamed The Meadow. The development reportedly would include more than 1,000 homes, a mosque, an Islamic school, and commercial properties.

He also has pushed local officials to deny permits connected to the project and launched legal action against an affiliated Islamic school, warning that Texas "will not tolerate any threat posed by foreign adversaries or extremist ideologies operating under the guise of religion."