Florida Congressman Defends ‘Dogs Over Muslims’ Comment Amid Resignation Pressure

Rep. Randy Fine on Tuesday rejected mounting calls from Democrats and Muslim leaders for him to resign from Congress after he posted on X that he would choose dogs over Muslims, stating that the Democrats should not be able to change Americans’ values.

“It’s not enough for Democrats to think anyone who wants to come here illegally should be able to do that,” the Florida Republican said. “They also think they should be able to get whatever free stuff they want, and now, they’re demanding that we change our values and how we live as Americans.”

Fine initially posted Sunday: “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”

He then shared a post from Nerdeen Kiswani, co-founder of the pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime, in which she called dogs “unclean” and wrote that “NYC is coming to Islam.”

“Dogs definitely have a place in society,” Kiswani also said on X, “just not as indoor pets.” She pointed out that she is “one of the key mainstream Muslim groups that supported” Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is Muslim.

Kiswani later told NBC News that the comment was “satire” tied to a local debate about dog waste after a snowstorm and that she was “satirizing Islamophobic hysteria portraying Mamdani’s mayoralty as a societal takeover.”

Fine defended his comments: “My post was in response to a major Muslim leader saying dogs should be forbidden from New York City because, to some Muslims, it bothers them.”

“Well, if they’re going to make us choose between our dogs and them going home, the choice is easy,” he added.

“Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are saying, we are going to get rid of your dogs,” he said. “Americans need to keep that in mind when they go to vote in November.”

Fine also criticized Democrats on Tuesday over the Department of Homeland Security funding shutdown, saying that Americans would lose vital services as a result.

“For the third time in six months, Democrats have shut down the government because of their obsession with illegal immigrants,” he said. “They did it for 43 days last year. They did it for a couple of days a few weeks ago. And yet again, the government is shut down.”

Fine added that he wants people to understand the implications:

“If we have a natural disaster, FEMA is not funded because Democrats do not want to deport illegal immigrants that are in our country,” Fine said.

“If you’re looking to buy a house and you need to get flood insurance in order to close on your mortgage, you can’t do that today because Democrats have shut down the government,” he said.

Fine also dismissed Democrats’ criticism of the SAVE America Act:

“It’s just gibberish,” he said. “Look, it’s desperation because it doesn’t make sense. You can’t actually change your birth certificate. I mean, that’s how you were born. And there’s nothing in this bill that’s going to stop a woman from voting.”

“In fact, it’s quite sexist to imply that women can’t figure out how to get a photo ID to vote,” Fine added. “We do this right now in Florida, but people need to understand why Democrats are pushing for this.”