Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced Tuesday that he is launching “undercover investigations” into what he described as “leftist terror cells” in the state.

In a hyperbolic statement filled with right-wing mischaracterizations and misinformation, Paxton suggested that these investigations would primarily target groups in Texas associated with the Antifa movement and transgender rights.

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“Leftist political terrorism is a clear and present danger. Corrupted ideologies like transgenderism and Antifa are a cancer on our culture and have unleashed their deranged and drugged-up foot soldiers on the American people,” Paxton said.

Paxton’s October 7 press release noted that the operations are a direct response to the September 10 assassination of Charlie Kirk. The release described the right-wing, anti-LGBTQ+ Christian nationalist activist as a “national hero,” with Paxton himself referring to Kirk as a martyr.

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“The martyrdom of Charlie Kirk marks a turning point in America. There can be no compromise with those who want us dead,” Paxton said. “To that end, I have directed my office to continue its efforts to identify, investigate, and infiltrate these leftist terror cells. To those demented souls who seek to kill, steal, and destroy our country, know this: you cannot hide, you cannot escape, and justice is coming.” 

The release referred to recent attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in Alvarado and Dallas, and described Kirk’s suspected killer as “a leftist assassin connected to the radical transgender movement.” While reports indicate that several activists connected with anti-fascist and left-wing groups were involved in the July 4 attack on the ICE detention center in Alvarado, as Them notes, there is little evidence to suggest that Joshua Jahn, the man suspected of killing three detainees at ICE’s Dallas facility last month, was connected to any organization. Jahn, who shot and killed himself at the scene, was reportedly registered as an independent, and authorities believe he acted alone.

Similarly, authorities have yet to uncover any evidence connecting Kirk’s suspected killer, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, to any organization or movement. However, in the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, President Donald Trump explicitly blamed “the radical left” for the shooting and called for a crackdown on progressive organizations. Republican leaders and media figures also seized on erroneous reports that bullet casings found near the Utah Valley University campus, where Kirk was shot and killed at a speaking event, were engraved with wording “expressing transgender and anti-fascist ideology.” Reports indicating that Robinson was romantically involved with his roommate, who is reportedly transgender, have further fueled the right-wing narrative alleging Robinson was motivated by so-called “transgender ideology.” Robinson’s roommate was reportedly entirely unaware of his plan to assassinate Kirk and has been “incredibly cooperative” with law enforcement during the investigation.

Trump has since declared Antifa — a decentralized political movement opposing fascism — a “domestic terrorist organization” in a September 22 executive order. Following a September 18 report in which two national security officials claimed that the administration is discussing a plan in which the FBI would consider transgender suspects as a subset of its “Nihilistic Violent Extremists” threat category, Wired reported that anti-LGBTQ+ think tank The Heritage Foundation has been pushing for the bureau to create a new domestic terror threat category for “Transgender Ideology-Inspired Extremism” (TIVE).

As Them notes, Paxton’s claim of a “disturbing rise” in “leftist violence across the country” may have been drawn from a recent report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which indicated a marked rise in “left-wing terrorist attacks and plots” in the U.S. over the past decade.

However, right-wing fearmongering about violence perpetrated by transgender individuals is at odds with reality. Data from the Violence Prevention Project at Hamline University indicates that less than 1 percent of shootings where four or more people were wounded in public are by trans people, and that over 97 percent of the mass killings are committed by cisgender men. An analysis of crime data by PolitiFact also showed that the “overwhelming” majority of shootings are perpetrated by cisgender men, and the Williams Institute at the U.C.L.A. School of Law has found that trans people are four times more likely than cisgender people to be the victims of violent crime.

Paxton’s announcement comes at a time of high anxiety for transgender Americans, amid the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to roll back trans rights and protections across the country. In Texas, where Republican lawmakers have tried to pass bills that would ban gender transition and criminalize trans identity, trans respondents to a recent Dallas Morning News survey said they live in a near constant state of fear. Of the 90 trans Texans the paper surveyed, 77 said they have already picked another state to flee to, while 57 said they have already started saving money in case they need to move.

As Them notes, Paxton’s announcement has been greeted with ridicule by some critics online. Texas-based investigative journalist Steven Monacelli pointed out that it’s odd for law enforcement to publicize “undercover” investigations in advance, suggesting the move may, at least in part, be political theater aimed at currying favor with the president.

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