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The Rio Grande Valley is one of our nation’s most homogeneous, with a population that is 92% Latino, and a majority of that population remain loyal to their Latin roots, with 75% identifying themselves as Roman Catholic. A majority of other residents adhere to various other Christian denominations.

As a main entry point for immigrants from around the world including the Caribbean and Asia, the Valley’s population is changing, and to their credit most local residents have welcomed our new neighbors.

Those changes, and that admirable tolerance, isn’t just ethnic or national. Our region has enjoyed growing and active adherents of various faiths including Jewish, Bahá’í and Islam, among others. We trust that people of all religions have found the Valley to be a place that allows them to practice their religion openly and safely.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case everywhere, especially in government, where intolerance appears to be growing in size — and in virulence — at both the national and state level.

Texas’ biennial legislative session begins in January and lawmakers can start prefiling bills on Nov.9, a week after the Nov. 3 election, and several legislative and political groups have started their planning. One alarming activity is a declared effort to wage war against Islamic Texans.

At a conference held this month in Fort Worth by the far-right True Texas Project, members, state legislators and candidates discussed plans to make life “miserable” for Muslims in the state. State Rep. Andy Hopper, a Republican from Decatur, cited “opportunities we can take to make life difficult for people who should not be here,” specifying followers of Islam.

The group discussed a slate of anti-Islamic bills they plan to file and support, ranging from general proposals to deny state funding to any businesses who hire any immigrant holding an H-1B visa to specific bans on Islamic practices including hijab head coverings and halal rules governing food, similar to Jewish kosher traditions.

The group discussed categorizing Islam as a political ideology in order to escape our Constitution’s protection of religious freedom — ignoring that the same protection is extended to political speech.

To be sure, this isn’t a new campaign against Islam, and it isn’t the only religion to face attacks from state officials. Most local residents are aware of the efforts, and taxpayers’ money, Attorney General Ken Paxton has utilized in his campaign against other religious groups including Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, which has offered legal immigrants processed through our U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

It might be easy to assume that extreme actions and proposals won’t receive the support of most Texans. However, zeal can overpower more moderate views of a larger population that doesn’t have the same sense of alarm, and motivation.

We trust that enough lawmakers and their constituents recognize that actions against entire demographic groups are too extreme in a state whose official motto is “friendship,” and help ensure that efforts to attack Texas Muslims, or any other demographic group, don’t bear fruit.