Rep. Randy Fine, a Florida Republican, intensified controversy this week by repeatedly calling for the deportation of Muslims, remarks that civil rights groups and constitutional scholars said advocate collective punishment based on religion.
In an interview on The Todd Starnes Show, Fine rejected distinctions between extremists and the broader Muslim population. “I would challenge the premise of your question,” Fine said when asked about Islamist extremism. “It’s not the Islamists. It’s mainstream Muslims,” he added, arguing that the term “radical Islam” minimizes what he described as a widespread threat.
Fine went on to say, “The radical Muslims are those who don’t want to kill us,” and called for sweeping immigration actions. “We have to say that we have had enough and we have to stop letting them in,” he said, praising former President Donald Trump for expanding restrictions on Palestinians entering the United States.
“We need to send all of them home that are here,” Fine told Starnes. He also singled out elected officials, adding, “For people like Ilhan Omar who engage in immigration fraud to become Americans, we need to prosecute, denaturalize and deport.”
Framing his position as a matter of civilizational survival, Fine warned, “The future of Western civilization is at stake here,” and asked, “How many more people have to die?”
During the same interview, Fine said the country must confront what he called uncomfortable realities. “It is very painful to destroy your view that says we’re one giant human family,” he said. “The problem is there’s a lot of people in this world who lionize a culture of death and destruction,” adding that he was unwilling to “allow myself to be slaughtered” for the sake of political correctness.
Fine also described immigration policy in stark terms. “Immigration without assimilation is invasion,” he said, alleging that Muslims were coming to the United States “not to become Americans, but to destroy America.”
The remarks prompted swift condemnation from Muslim advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers, who said Fine’s statements violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom. Legal experts noted that deportation based solely on religion would be unconstitutional and inconsistent with long-standing Supreme Court precedent.
Republican leaders have not endorsed Fine’s comments. Several GOP lawmakers declined to respond directly, while others emphasized that national security policies must target individuals who commit crimes rather than entire religious groups.
Fine, however, showed no sign of backing down. “I’m going to speak the truth,” he said, reiterating, “We have a problem with mainstream Muslims in the world, in this country, and we have to do something about it.”
The episode adds to a growing national debate over immigration, religious liberty and the boundaries of political rhetoric as lawmakers head into another contentious election cycle.
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