Border Security

Texas Islamist Charter School Funded With $75 Million of State Monies

In March, the Texas Scorecard reported that the Texas Education Agency was investigating the Manara Academy District, a charter school system. An agency spokesman confirmed “an open investigation … examining district-level systems, practices and compliance related to allegations concerning prohibited use of instructional materials and classroom activities.” The investigation is welcome. New research indicates that...

July 17, 2026

Border Security

Millions More People. Millions Fewer Affordable Homes.

Homeownership has long been one of the defining features of the American dream. For many young families today, it feels increasingly out of reach. While policymakers have spent years debating interest rates and zoning reform, they have largely ignored one of the biggest demand shocks in modern American history. According to a report from the Federal Reserve...

July 13, 2026

Border Security

How Texas Became Hub Of A Terror-Link Kashmiri Outfit’s Activities

Across the state, a collection of terror networks and their Islamist partners are using US politicians, institutions and nonprofit infrastructure to advance violent, radical ambitions. In 2022, Yasin Malik, the leader of a Kashmiri group declared by a US federal appeals court as a terrorist organisation involved in killings, bombings and kidnappings, was sentenced by an Indian...

July 6, 2026

Border Security

What’s Next for Wealthy Texas Islamism?

More than 700 Islamic nonprofit organizations operate across Texas. An ideological survey and mapping of these groups indicates that at least a third operate under the influence or control of one of seven terror-tied Islamist networks active in the state. Movements such as the Taliban-tied Deobandis, anti-Semitic Salafis, and the violent Jamaat-e-Islami movement, among others,...

June 24, 2026

Border Security

Claudia Sheinbaum Leads Mexico into Confrontation

Her government is now on a collision course with both the United States and with basic Mexican democratic civics. It’s easy to feel sorry for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has the misfortune of presiding over the worst crisis in U.S.–Mexican relations in a century. The crisis has been building since the April 19 deaths of...

June 5, 2026

Border Security

America’s Counterterrorism Strategy Needs Texas

President Donald Trump’s new 2026 Counterterrorism Strategy makes one thing unmistakably clear: The threats facing the United States are no longer confined to distant battlefields overseas. They are here—at our border, inside our institutions, and increasingly imbedded within transnational networks operating across the homeland. The strategy identifies three principal threats: “narcoterrorists and transnational gangs, legacy...

June 4, 2026

Border Security

Broadening Our Threat Perception: Iran’s Texas-Pakistani Network

Too many policymakers think of the Iranian regime as solely a Middle Eastern matter. But with attentions focused elsewhere, a powerful network of South Asian Shia Islamists operates with near impunity much closer—across the state of Texas. On March 13, a Pakistani Shia mosque in Houston, named the Ali Center, hosted a commemoration for the...

June 2, 2026

Border Security

Iran’s proxy war has crossed oceans and is now knocking on America’s door

The Al-Saadi case shows how Tehran’s proxies exploit cartel corridors, criminal networks, and migration pipelines. Americans still debate Iran through an outdated lens. We speak of war as something that starts with bombs, troop deployments, or congressional declarations. Yet Iran has waged asymmetric war against the United States and the West since 1979 — through terrorism, proxy...

May 26, 2026

Border Security

States Are Not Bystanders in Homeland Defense

Cartels, trafficking networks, and hostile foreign actors do not pause operations based on American election cycles or changes in political leadership. Their operations continue to impact communities along the southern border and throughout the United States every day, keeping border enforcement and defending our homeland at the center of national security conversations. As a result,...

May 23, 2026

Border Security

Rep. Hefner: Property taxes, security, and local reforms top priorities for next session

In a recent interview on The Arena with Greg Sindelar, State Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mount Pleasant, offered a candid look at his East Texas roots, legislative record, and priorities as Texas heads toward its 90th legislative session. Hefner, who represents a deeply conservative district in Northeast Texas, traced his path to public office back to...

May 1, 2026

Border Security

America Gets Serious About Cartels. Will Mexico?

President Claudia Sheinbaum shrugs as two CIA officers are killed in Chihuahua. Deaths in Mexico’s modern cartel wars are nothing unusual: The sanguinary toll of nearly 20 years of bloodshed, of state vs. criminals vs. citizenry, exceeds that of most major wars. But American deaths in Mexico are unusual—especially deaths of Americans present in an...

April 27, 2026

Border Security

Sanctuary Stubbornness

Governor Greg Abbott’s push to hold Texas cities accountable for sanctuary policies protects Texans and the rule of law in a state grappling with the consequences of a broken federal immigration system. At the center of this debate is Senate Bill 4 (SB 4), the 2017 law designed to ensure that local governments do not...

April 23, 2026