Texas Republicans are turning years of warnings about political Islam into a state policy campaign focused on foreign money, land, financial practices, public institutions, private tribunals, and terrorism laws.
The Republican Party of Texas made “Don’t Sharia Our Texas” one of its official 2026-2028 legislative priorities on June 13. The party is calling for new investigations, expanded attorney general authority and laws aimed at organizations and practices it says could establish a competing political and legal system inside Texas.
Republican lawmakers carried that effort into the True Texas Project’s August 1 conference in Fort Worth. The official program included sessions titled “Strategy For Stopping Islam: Training on Finance & Regulatory Gaps” and “Islamization and TX Lege.” State Rep. Andy Hopper (R-District 64), state Rep. Brent Money (R-District 2) and state Sen. Bob Hall (R-District 2) appeared on panels addressing the issue.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) has also directed the Senate State Affairs Committee to study “Preventing Sharia Law in Texas.” His interim charge tells senators to examine the proposed EPIC City development and associated entities, review large real estate acquisitions and recommend protections against housing discrimination and “unscrupulous developers.”
Together, the party priority, conference and Senate investigation show Republicans moving from general warnings to a specific question: Which parts of the political-Islamist threat can Texas confront under existing law, and what authority does the state still need?
What Republicans are Doing Now
The Texas GOP priority describes Sharia as an “incompatible, seditious, subversive, competing enemy system.” It calls for scrutiny of foreign funding, religiously affiliated developments, Sharia-compliant finance, organizations suspected of supporting terrorism and private tribunals that claim legal authority.
The priority also asks lawmakers to block taxpayer-funded institutions from providing meals or services “to comply with Sharia Law,” expand the attorney general’s enforcement authority, strengthen Texas’ foreign-law statute, create a civil racketeering cause of action and seek terrorist designations for specified organizations.
The written priority does not call for banning hijabs or halal food sales. The Dallas Morning News reported broader proposals from the Fort Worth gathering under the headline “Texas Republicans offer blueprint of plan to ban Islam, Shariah.” The Dallas Express did not locate a public recording or transcript of the sessions and does not attribute those additional proposals to individual lawmakers without primary evidence.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) have already used existing state power in several areas that overlap with the party’s agenda. Abbott signed a real estate law he promoted as a ban on “Sharia compounds,” and Paxton opened investigations involving EPIC City, its developers and a Dallas-based Islamic tribunal.
Where the Push Lines Up with Texas law
Texas already has substantial authority over conduct Republicans have identified as a threat.
HB 4211, which took effect in 2025, regulates residential arrangements in which buyers acquire an interest in a business entity rather than the underlying property. The law requires clear disclosures, bans housing discrimination, protects an owner’s right to transfer an interest and prevents contracts from forcing disputes into a tribunal outside the Texas or federal court system. A court can halt development activity or public benefits after finding a violation.
The law does not mention Islam. It targets the ownership and governance structure that raised concerns about the development formerly called EPIC City. That approach gives Texas an enforceable rule tied to property rights and conduct rather than a religious label.
Paxton has also invoked ordinary securities law against the East Plano Islamic Center, Community Capital Partners and several project leaders. His pending lawsuit alleges they made misleading statements, failed to verify the accredited status of some investors and diverted offering proceeds. The defendants have not been found liable, but the case shows that a religiously branded project remains subject to Texas fraud and disclosure laws.
The State Securities Board can investigate investment offerings and refer cases for enforcement. Paxton’s office can examine charitable organizations for misuse or diversion of nonprofit assets. State consumer-protection, housing and land-use laws provide additional avenues when evidence supports a case.
Texas also has a boundary against competing legal authority. HB 45, enacted in 2017, requires procedures and judicial training to prevent foreign judgments or arbitration awards in certain family cases from violating constitutional rights, Texas public policy, the best interests of children or protections for abuse victims.
Paxton opened a separate investigation into the Islamic Tribunal in April. He accused the Dallas-based organization of falsely representing that its decisions carried “the approval of the Texas Judicial system.” The investigation seeks records and has not produced a public finding.
On terrorism financing, Texas Penal Code Chapter 76 makes it a state crime to intentionally raise, collect or provide material support with knowledge or intent that it will assist a listed terrorism offense. Federal law separately prohibits material support to a federally designated foreign terrorist organization.
What Republicans Want to Change
The next phase would expand who must disclose funding and ownership, what conduct the attorney general can investigate and which organizations face restrictions under Texas law.
Republicans want more visibility into foreign money moving through developments, nonprofits, securities offerings, schools and entities seeking public funds. Texas can require disclosure in regulated transactions, condition state benefits on compliance and punish fraudulent concealment. Lawmakers could also require beneficial-ownership reporting when a project or investment has ties to a sanctioned actor or hostile foreign power.
The GOP priority seeks broader attorney general authority to investigate suspected networks, challenge deceptive practices and pursue a civil racketeering claim. It also calls for stronger restrictions on Sharia-compliant financial products when promoters misrepresent returns, ownership, risk or religious compliance.
The party wants Texas to treat advocacy for Sharia as sedition. Existing Government Code Chapter 557 applies to acts intended to overthrow, destabilize or alter government by force or violence and to knowing participation in organizations pursuing those acts. Any expansion would have to define the prohibited conduct. Force, threats, coercion, conspiracy, material support and fraudulent claims of government authority give prosecutors evidence-based elements to prove.
Republicans are also pursuing terrorist and criminal designations. Abbott designated the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations under Texas law. CAIR’s Texas chapters challenged the action in federal court. Texas can use valid state authorities involving property, public benefits and state crimes, but the federal government controls federal Foreign Terrorist Organization designations, immigration and deportation.
Why Republicans Say the Threat is Serious
North Texas has supplied much of the evidence driving the current push.
The Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation and five of its leaders were convicted in 2008 for providing about $12.4 million in material support to Hamas. The case established that a prominent American charity could operate as a fundraising arm for a terrorist organization while presenting itself as humanitarian.
The federal government designated the Egyptian and Jordanian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as Specially Designated Global Terrorists in January. The State Department designated the Lebanese branch as both a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Those designations apply to the named branches, but they reinforce Republican concerns about Brotherhood-linked networks and financing.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, a witness at a U.S. Senate hearing described EPIC City as an “American version” of “Islamist separatism.” The pending Texas securities case, Patrick’s interim charge and HB 4211 show state officials taking the development’s financing and governance structure seriously.
Republicans also point to the Islamic Tribunal’s claim of judicial approval and the broader prospect of private organizations pressuring Texans to resolve disputes under rules that conflict with state law. Texas permits voluntary religious mediation, but no private tribunal can displace constitutional rights, criminal law, child protections or the authority of Texas courts.
The legal boundary is clear enough to guide the policy. The First Amendment protects peaceful worship and religious belief. It does not shield fraud, coercion, housing discrimination, sanctions violations, material support for terrorism or false claims of government power. Federal RLUIPA protections also require cities to apply neutral land-use rules to religious institutions.
That distinction gives Republicans room to act aggressively and write laws that can survive court review. The durable path is to follow the money, expose ownership and foreign control, protect victims, police land and securities transactions, prosecute terrorism support and prevent private groups from impersonating public courts.
The Republican effort is not one bill or one investigation. It is an attempt to build an enforcement system around political Islam using powers Texas already has and new authorities lawmakers believe the state now needs.
Provided by Dallas Express
