Texas Republicans are calling for more scrutiny of the state’s Muslim community after federal authorities said this weekend’s fatal bar attack in Austin had a “potential nexus to terrorism,” with some calling for an immigration ban.
Their demands came amid rising anti-Muslim sentiment in Texas in recent years, which is cresting ahead of Tuesday’s primary. Democrats countered with calls for stricter gun laws.
The shooter, who opened fire at a downtown bar popular with college students, was wearing a sweatshirt that said “Property of Allah” and had a Quran in his vehicle, according to a law enforcement official with direct knowledge who was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation. He was later identified as Ndiaga Diagne, 53, an naturalized American citizen originally from Senegal.
Three people died at the scene, including Mr. Diagne, who was shot by police officers. More than a dozen were injured.
Representative Chip Roy seized the moment to call on Congress to pass legislation he wrote that would halt nearly all legal immigration. Mr. Roy, a conservative Republican, is running in a crowded primary field to become Texas attorney general.
“Muslim immigrant violence — naturalized or not — is preventable,” Mr. Roy posted on the social media site X. “Until Democrats (& Republicans) find the courage to say no to the mass migration of Islamists, our country will be plagued with more tragedies…”
Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, who is leaving that role to challenge U.S. Senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary, endorsed a post on X that called for “no more Islamic immigration.”
Mr. Cornyn stopped short of calling for a halt to all immigration but said “Radical Islam has no place in Texas and our country.”
Gov. Greg Abbott also did not call for a blanket ban on immigration, but he urged an end to “the current open immigration policies.”
The shooting came at a key moment in Texas, after months of intensified attention from Republican politicians on the state’s Muslim communities.
Last year, Mr. Abbott signed a measure that he said was in response to a rise of Sharia law in the state. This year, he designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a major advocacy organization, as a foreign terrorist group. And Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has already made “preventing Sharia law” a top legislative priority for the next legislative session, which will occur in 2027.
On Sunday, the Texas chapter of C.A.I.R. condemned the shooting and other acts of violence.
“We also reject any efforts to ascribe collective blame or punishment to entire communities or faiths based on the actions of individual criminals,” the organization wrote. “While a single person carried out this heinous attack last night, hundreds of thousands of Texas Muslims finished their night prayers and headed to their homes while calling on God for global peace and justice.”
As they have after other recent mass shootings, Democrats in Texas called for more gun control laws. Their past efforts have failed, with Republican leaders instead loosening firearms regulations. In Texas, it is legal to openly carry a handgun or rifle in most places, no license needed. Private person-to-person sales usually do not require background checks, what critics refer to as as the ”gun-show loophole.”
It was unclear on Monday how Mr. Diagne acquired the two firearms that the authorities say he used in the shooting.
James Talarico, a Democratic state lawmaker also running for Mr. Cornyn’s Senate seat, criticized Mr. Abbott in a television appearance and on X on Sunday after the governor said he had been praying for the victims and called for an investigation but did not call for gun control.
Mr. Abbott responded, “The problem here, James, is not the gun show loophole. It’s the unvetted immigrant loophole.”
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