Study: Texas saw nation's highest rate of white supremacist activity in 2022

White supremacist activity in the U.S. reached an all-time high in 2022, and Texas had the nation's highest rate at 537 incidents, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The ADL's annual assessment, which tracks white supremacist events and propaganda efforts across the nation, documented more than 6,700 such events last year, a 32% increase over 2021, with specifically antisemitic incidents more than doubling from 352 in 2021 to 852 last year.

“We’re disappointed and alarmed to see Texas at the top of the list,” ADL Southwest Regional Director Mark B. Toubin said in a news release. “Over the past year and half, many residents in our region have reported white supremacist propaganda strewn overnight on their lawn or driveway within rock-filled plastic bags. In response, all Texans must resist these efforts at intimidation as well as speak out against this unconcealed display of antisemitism and hate.”

The following are some of the assessment's key findings:

• White supremacist groups increasingly used banners, often draped over highway overpasses, to publicize their message. The ADL recorded at least 252 banner drops last year, a 38% increase over the 183 counted in 2021.

• The ADL documented 167 white supremacist events, a 55% increase over the 108 recorded the previous year, with events taking place in 33 states, with the most activity (from most to least active) in Massachusetts, California, Ohio and Florida. The White Lives Matter network was responsible for 43% of these events.

• The ADL recorded 219 incidents of white supremacist propaganda distribution on campuses, a 6% decrease compared to 2021 and the lowest number since ADL began tracking in 2017. While the majority of these incidents occurred on college or university campuses, at least 11 incidents were reported on K-12 campuses.

• On-campus propaganda was recorded in 39 states, with the highest levels of activity (from most to least active) in Texas, Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan.

White supremacists in El Paso

According to the ADL's Hate, Extremism, Antisemitism, Terrorism (HEAT) Map, which provides a geographical breakdown of white supremacist incidents across the country, El Paso experienced three white supremacist incidents last year.

On March 1, 2022, the Texas-based Patriot Front distributed propaganda that contained slogans such as "To Ourselves and Our Posterity," "Victory or Death" and "America First," a common refrain of supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

In September 2022, the same group circulated propaganda reading "Reject Poison," "Not Stolen, Conquered" and "Reclaim America." A month later, an unidentified El Paso synagogue received a threatening email via its online contact form, including anti-Semitic language and support for the Holocaust.

The same day as the synagogue message was received, Patriot Front distributed "America First" propaganda in nearby Fabens.

But while El Paso has seen only a handful of the incidents documented by the ADL, Border Network for Human Rights founder and Executive Director Fernando Garcia said his organization has seen firsthand the growing threat of race-based hate.

"We've been working very hard across the state and we've seen how Texas has become the epicenter of white supremacism, along with racism and xenophobia," Garcia said. "Even before 2019, before the Walmart attack, we saw the elements here in El Paso of an increase in this vitriol and supremacist rhetoric."

Garcia noted that shortly after the racist mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart in August 2019, the organization's headquarters were vandalized. Further, he and members of his staff are regularly the victims of threatening phone calls and emails, so much so that the organization has now installed security cameras at its offices.

A few years later, during the worst throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, Garcia recalled seeing "very aggressive" caravans of oversized pickups "linked to the Trumpist agenda" roaming the city.

During an event protesting Trump's visit to the border, supporters of the former president showed up in force shouting racist epithets at the gathered crowd, he said.

"When Walmart, happened, it was a big shock at the moment, but it wasn't a surprise for us because we saw the elements before that," Garcia said. "This has been something that is of concern; we know there's the existence of that, but we're worried about what some people becoming fanatics can do."

He added, "We are in a situation where something like Walmart could happen again."

What is causing surge in white supremacist activity?

According to the ADL study, three white supremacist organizations ‒ Goyim Defense League, White Lives Matter and the previously-mentioned Patriot Front ‒ were responsible for 93% of incidents in 2022. The Patriot Front alone reportedly was responsible for 80% of white supremacist propaganda campaigns in 2022, hitting every state except Alaska and Hawaii, with its highest activity in Massachusetts, Texas and Michigan.

The Goyim Defense League, an antisemitic group with ties to an array of other hate groups, increased its activity in 2022 with 492 propaganda incidents last year, compared with only 74 recorded the year before. The group made up 7% of the total propaganda actions documented last year but more than half of the specifically antisemitic incidents.

Garcia maintains the seeds for these types of actions have been planted at the highest levels of federal and state government, especially the anti-immigrant invasion rhetoric championed by Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

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"I think Trump opened a new era in regard to new aggressions against people of color," Garcia said. "But in Texas, that is deeply rooted — politicians in Texas not only embraced Trump's rhetoric, they took steps to mechanize, to finance, this type of rhetoric. And Texas has multiple ways that have been expressed by politicians and governments."

On one hand, Garcia noted, Texas has made it easier to access firearms, which means that extremists are finding it easier to arm themselves.

"That is an extreme interpretation of the Second Amendment," Garcia said.

Additionally, Garcia said, the invasion rhetoric started by Trump and parroted by Abbott and other leading Texas Republicans creates a tinderbox for extremism, especially when that rhetoric is weaponized into official state policy such as Operation Lone Star.

Garcia also said that Abbott is considering adopting a policy that would establish a civilian border force, which would allow militia-style groups to patrol and protect the border.

"This is an extreme situation," Garcia said. "I think Texas will be the state not only leading in white supremacist attacks, but also in the rhetoric politicians are using, state governments are using. So, I think we are really concerned, more than nationally, that the state of Texas is becoming very dangerous for people of color."

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This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Study: Texas saw highest rate of US white supremacist activity in 2022