Muslim prayer rugs on Texas-Mexico border? No confirmed finds

The lieutenant governor of Texas has twice declared the discovery of “prayer rugs” on the Texas side of the border with Mexico, also suggesting members of the Islamic State group have possibly snuck in.

At the September 2014, Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., David Dewhurst described suspicions of an impending invasion of terrorists crossing the Rio Grande. As a sign, he said, “prayer rugs have recently been found on the Texas side of the border in the brush,” according to CSPAN2 video posted online by the liberal news site Talking Points Memo.

We looked into this and found… nothing.

That is, such finds aren’t backed up by sourced-by-name witnesses nor did any state or federal authority confirm such a find when we inquired. If prayer rugs were showing up to someone’s alarm, we think there’d be legitimate photographs and the rugs themselves available for inspection.

Another hole: While people of the Muslim faith surely cross the Mexico-Texas border – that’s not at issue in this fact check – it’s unreasonable to presume the presence of prayer rugs means individuals carrying them intend to commit violent acts on U.S.soil, an implication of Dewhurst’s declaration.

In the end, we judge this statement incorrect and ridiculous. Rugs (we mean Pants) on Fire!