A Texas student says she received death threats after exposing the campus’ hijab booth

FIRST ON FOX – A Texas high school student who went viral after calling out a group of Muslims for ripping off hijabs on her campus told members of Congress last week that she received death threats for speaking out.

Marco Hunter-Lopez, a 16-year-old student at Wylie East High School and president of the campus Republican Club, told Fox News Digital that he was invited by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, will testify May 13 before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government in a case titled, “Sharia-Free America.”

Hunter-Lopez testified about the incident that happened on Feb. 2 in her high school, when she met an Islamic booth where four older women from the organization “Why Islam?” they were handing out hijabs to female students, copies of the Quran with instructions for conversion, and a pamphlet titled, “Understanding Sharia.”

The incident drew national attention after Hunter-Lopez posted videos of the incident on social media. During his testimony, he revealed that he received death threats after that.

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“I had people who said they were going to be at home waiting for me to get home and they were going to shoot me,” Hunter-Lopez told the subcommittee. “I had people who told me to kill myself. Many different things. But I know that no one can announce something about me because I wake up every morning in victory with Christ.”

In his testimony, Hunter-Lopez said Sharia law is completely incompatible with the US Constitution and American values, and said the foreign group violated school policy and parents’ rights.

“Providing resources that introduce Sharia in a rewarding way to children during the school day – without parental consent – risks stereotypes that undermine the very principles our public schools are supposed to follow,” he said. “This is not neutral education; it is the promotion of ideas under the guise of diversity and inclusion.”

Interview with Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., also escalated after the lawmaker questioned the session’s intent, asking if anyone believed the US needed special laws targeting people of certain religions rather than holding everyone to the law of the land.

When Raskin directed the question to Hunter-Lopez, the young man challenged Raskin’s view of the American legal system, pointing out that most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were practicing Christians.

Texas high school student Marco Hunter-Lopez testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on May 13 on “Sharia-Free America: Why Islamic Political Law & Sharia is Incompatible with the US Constitution: Part ll”. (House Committee on the Judiciary)

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After clips of the exchange were sent to X last week, conservatives praised the teenager for his candid response to a congressional question.

Hunter-Lopez later told Fox News Digital that Raskin cut him off several times before he fully argued that lawmakers should recognize the fundamentals of American Christianity, but said he was ready to defend his views.

“I believe you think you will catch me off guard by calling me. But it didn’t happen,” Hunter-Lopez told Fox News Digital. “I got the fight.”

Raskin’s representatives did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Hunter-Lopez credited her faith and community for giving her the courage to stand up, noting that her peers have been more motivated to voice their opinions after the killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

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Charlie Kirk was the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA and the host of Salem’s best-selling podcast and nationally syndicated radio show, “The Charlie Kirk Show.” He was the author of four books and a leading social media personality, best known for his campus rallies and ultimate activism. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)

“After that, instead of being afraid to speak up, I saw a lot of students have the courage to speak up,” he told Fox News Digital. He encouraged other students to get involved in their community and “find other students you can relate to.”

The Christian Conservative student was also asked to testify about allegations that the Republican Club has faced “bad scrutiny” from school administrators since it was launched last year. Hunter-Lopez alleges that school officials initially dismissed her club for being too political, censored its posters, and implemented policies that targeted religious and political parties.

In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, Wylie Independent School District (ISD) officials strongly denied the claim involving ideological discrimination or selectively enforcing policies regarding religion or political views.

“Wylie ISD does not promote or promote any religion,” the spokesperson said. “As a public school district, the district is expected by law to be religiously neutral while respecting the constitutional rights of all students. The district does not operate ‘Muslim prayer rooms’ or give special treatment to one religious group over another. In accordance with the law, reasonable accommodations may be made for students’ religious practices when appropriate.”

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In her written testimony to Congress, Hunter-Lopez noted a “pattern of repression” against the Republican Student Club that she established in the way the promotion of Islamic views was handled by school administrators. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

District officials said the school “experienced challenges related to supervision last school year,” according to the Republican Club and said communication between the school and students “could and should have been better, and district leadership acknowledged that.”

Regarding the actual incident of Feb. 2, Wylie ISD reiterated that the situation was a procedural violation regarding visitor practices, “not a deliberate attempt to promote any religious ideology or organization.” The district said a necessary verification step was skipped by campus staff, adding that “if that critical step had been completed, the outside party would not have been allowed to meet with the student body that day.”

“Following this incident, the district has strengthened classroom expectations and updated procedures for the club and guests to help ensure that a similar situation does not happen again,” said a spokesperson for the department.

The hearing comes amid widespread pressure from Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, launched the “Sharia Free America Caucus” late last year to counter what they described as a threat to American civil liberties.

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Chip Roy and Keith Self launched the Sharia-Free America Caucus in December. (Tom Brenner/Getty Images; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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Self told Fox News Digital that the incident at Wylie East High School was not an isolated incident.

“This was not a violation of procedure as the school said,” Self said. “It was intentional, it happened, they were caught by a young man who would not allow it to happen without pushing each other.”

Wylie ISD disputed Self’s comments in a statement to Fox News Digital, calling the congressman’s comments “disappointing” and saying he has not contacted district leadership or campus administrators to discuss the matter.

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Roy echoed Self’s concerns in his comments to Fox News Digital, saying that the influence of Sharia is spreading rapidly in Texas, “with more than 300 mosques and proposals for Muslim-only cities.” He applauded the high school student for speaking out.

“Marco saw the consequences firsthand at his high school, and I applaud his courage to speak up and speak the truth about how the growing influence of Islam is affecting our country,” he said.