In town hall with Rep. Gill, callers worry about missed paychecks and immigrants changing America

October 22, 2025

By Mary Beth Gahan

FLOWER MOUND, Texas — During a virtual town hall meeting Tuesday evening, Rep. Brandon Gill touted the passage of a continuing resolution by House republicans, blamed Senate democrats for keeping the government shut down, and repeatedly expressed his desire that all immigrants “assimilate” to the culture of the United States.

The town hall didn’t just give a look into how the Republican congressman views current affairs, but also a glimpse into the minds of constituents of U.S. House District 26. Callers, which were screened by staff members before talking to Rep. Gill, were concerned about immigrants taking American jobs, implementing Sharia Law, and changing the culture of America. Only one caller questioned Rep. Gill about his voting record and viewpoints.  

Many lawmakers have canceled or not scheduled town hall meetings, citing safety concerns. Rep. Gill hosted a series of in-person meetings in late August, but they weren’t publicly advertised until after they were finished.

Rep. Gill started the town hall with a look at what his office has been doing since he took office earlier this year. The staff has closed 681 cases brought by constituents and answered nearly 1,000 calls, he said. A bulk of the hour-long phone call was spent on a question-and-answer session that focused on immigration, with some concerned about healthcare subsidies that democrats want to extend.

“Don't you dare let our Medicare money and our federal tax dollars go to illegal immigrants in any way, shape, or form. Unless it's a plane ticket home,” Jim from Lake Dallas said.

Gloria, a twenty-something from Lewisville who is the child of immigrants, talked about her brother being laid off in order for his job to be filled in India and others to be taken by international workers who are “willing to work for basically nothing.” In addition to jobs being taken, she worries about the culture changing.

“I will say that I'm not anti-immigration. I'm actually a child of immigrants. I'm brown. I'm not anti-race. I'm not anti a particular race. But the cultural issue is of importance to me because being born here, being raised here, the America that I remember the 1990s being is not the America I'm seeing here in Dallas-Fort Worth,” she said. “I really value the fact that the founders of our country were Christian and they wanted the nation to be, basically, a city on a hill dedicated to God.”

Gill told her “you’re exactly right about that.”

“The America that you grew up in is being transformed,” he said. “And the problem is immigration without assimilation. Remember, immigration without assimilation amounts to cultural colonialism.”

Pat, a woman from Flower Mound, told the congressman that her daughter, who is in the Army, is worried about making a house payment if the shutdown continues, and she misses a paycheck.

Rep. Gill responded that they’re working to get troops paid and said he is not taking a salary while the government is shut down.

“So we’re with you on that,” he told her.

Members of congress make $174,000 annually and Rep. Gill has been in office since January.

Carolyn from Lewisville was the one dissenting voice on the call, asking Rep. Gill why he voted to defund public broadcasting.

“My kids grew up on PBS, my grandkids are growing up on PBS. They've got great programs. I enjoy their programs,” she said. “So it's like, OK, I'm missing something. What is it?”

Gill said he was proud to have cut funding to NPR and PBS, something that has been in the works with Republicans for decades.

“Both of them, both in their news and in their non-news programming are decidedly left-leaning. In fact, they're very, very far left. NPR, for instance, runs articles about fat-phobia and transgender dinosaurs,” Gill said.

Still, he said, he wouldn’t support giving news programs federal money, no matter which side of the political spectrum they’re on.

In all, the congressman took 13 questions from constituents, touching on subjects like Sharia Law, furloughed workers receiving back pay, and impeaching federal judges. One caller had no question, just praise for the work the congressman is doing in Washington. A full transcript can be found here.