When Rep. Chip Roy sat down with Glenn Beck and warned that Texas is “under siege,” he wasn’t whispering a conspiracy — he was sounding the alarm about real political movements and questionable projects that have captured the attention of state leaders and investigators. Conservatives who care about the rule of law should listen: Roy and other Texas Republicans are saying that ideological infiltration, not peaceful worship, is the real threat to civic order.
Governor Greg Abbott has acted on those concerns in a way that many on the right applaud, formally designating the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR under state authority and using existing Texas law to restrict their ability to buy land here. That move is bold and unprecedented at the state level precisely because federal designations have lagged while ground-level battles over influence and property play out in our communities. Texans deserve officials who will use every lawful tool to protect our institutions from organizations that officials claim seek political, not merely religious, transformation.
The flashpoint everyone is talking about is EPIC City, the planned development tied to the East Plano Islamic Center that critics say was marketed as a faith-centered community and that set off alarms in Austin and Washington. Federal investigators looked into whether the project threatened civil rights or excluded others, and the Justice Department ultimately closed its probe without criminal charges, but the controversy exposed how fragile trust can become when communities feel shut out. The lesson for conservatives is clear: legal scrutiny and vigilance matter, even when federal probes end without prosecution.
Meanwhile Attorney General Ken Paxton has not been idle — his office has sued EPIC and related entities, alleging securities violations and deceptive practices in how the project was funded and sold. This is the right approach for those of us who believe in equal application of the law; if promoters misled investors or broke state rules, Texas should and must hold them accountable, regardless of who they are. Lawful enforcement, not finger-wagging, is how we keep communities safe and property rights protected.
Let’s be clear: legitimate Muslim Americans who love freedom and follow the Constitution are not the problem, and conservatives should never trash a religion or a people. The reasonable, patriotic stance is to target ideology and organizations that openly pursue political ends incompatible with our Constitution. We must draw a bright line between faith and political movements that seek to supplant American law with foreign jurisprudence or create parallel legal systems under the guise of culture or religion.
The Biden border meltdown and uncontrolled migration make this debate urgent — when people come here illegally or under false pretenses, it strains our ability to vet for extremist ties and enforce the rule of law. Rep. Roy’s point on Beck about porous borders feeding demographic and political shifts is not an anti-immigrant screed; it’s a cry for secure sovereignty, thorough vetting, and commonsense immigration limits that protect our citizens and preserve social cohesion.
Patriots should support vigorous investigations, clear statutes that prohibit foreign law from displacing Texas law, and strict enforcement of securities and property rules so that no group can quietly buy influence or land to create enclaves outside our system. Stand behind elected officials who act to defend constitutional order, and demand that Washington do its job on national security and immigration so states don’t have to fight these battles alone. If Texans and all Americans value liberty, we will insist on laws enforced equally, borders secured, and radicals, not faith, kept from wielding political power in our towns and courts.
