Dan Patrick’s latest Fox blather on immigration ‘invasion’ is not just dumb, it’s dangerous

Dan Patrick has been a Texas politician nearly as long as he was a conservative talk radio host. But apparently the old shock-jock habits die hard.

The Republican lieutenant governor has gone on Fox News and said something offensive — again. We’re at a point where that shouldn’t even be news, except this time, what Patrick said Tuesday is not only foolish but also dangerous.

Patrick decried the “invasion” at the southern border, in particular the threat of fentanyl, the synthetic drug that is harming Americans at an alarming level. As the segment drew to a close, though, Patrick apparently had one more talking point he had to slip in.

“We’re being attacked just as we were on Pearl Harbor,” Patrick said. “This is an attack on the American public, it’s an attack on our young people, an attack on our border.”

The impact of illegal immigration is a real problem for Texas, especially our border counties. And drug trafficking over the border, especially in potentially lethal fentanyl, is a crisis demanding attention.

But no, an influx of poor, work-seeking immigrants is not exactly an imperial power marshaling air power to launch surprise attacks on American military installations and thrust us into a world war.

As it pertains to the border, “invasion” talk is an increasing menace. Some hard-right conservatives want Texas to declare that an invasion is underway and exercise the U.S. Constitution’s clause allowing states to make war under such circumstances.

Gov. Greg Abbott inched toward this drastic step Thursday, authorizing state troopers and National Guard members to take people who are in the country illegally to a port of entry. The order does not declare an “invasion” and does not authorize deportation.

The platform that Texas Republicans recently approved calls for an invasion declaration, and Patrick argued for it on Fox.

“That gives us the power to put hands on people and send them back,” he said.

Given recent events, it’s a grossly irresponsible thing to say. Mass shooters in El Paso and Buffalo were driven in part by the white-supremacist “replacement theory” — the idea that white Americans will purposely be relegated to minority status in part through Hispanic immigration.

As always when it comes to illegal immigration, there’s plenty of blame to go around. Democrats have for years employed sloppy rhetoric about young, diverse voting groups leading to a long-term left-leaning majority. Hispanic voters shifting to the right and changes among the white working class should prove any political theory that tidy is too simplistic.

And no, Patrick will not be to blame for the next white-supremacist shooter. Individuals bear responsibility for their actions.

But as lieutenant governor, Patrick has a duty to try to cool dangerous impulses in politics, not fuel them. Unfortunately, the knob on his burner seems to go just one way.

Frustration over the border is justified. The Biden administration either doesn’t care about the constant flood of illegal immigration or has thrown up its hands about how to stop it. And as we’ve said, Texas border communities shouldn’t have to bear the brunt of decades of federal failure. The danger to those Texans, the damage done to the lands of local ranchers, is real.

Texas taxpayers shouldn’t have to lay out $4 billion, as Patrick noted, trying to do the federal government’s job.

But the answer is not to escalate, in word or deed, to terms of war. Texas should never be in the business of deportation, and talk of laying hands on those coming in an “invasion” dehumanizes and invites vigilantism.

It won’t fix the problem. It’ll just make everyone a little madder before they vote. But then, that’s always been Dan Patrick’s biggest skill.

Updated on Friday to reflect Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order.

This story was originally published July 7, 2022 at 12:55 PM.