"Prayer rugs have recently been found on the Texas side of the border in the brush," Dewhurst said during a speech Friday at the Values Voter Summit, echoing a claim reported on Breitbart and thought to actually be an Adidas soccer jersey.

Dewhurst went on to say that he believed that states had the right to "act independently of the government" when it comes to border country.

Dewhurst is one of a number of Republicans who have argued that there's a threat of terrorist coming into the country through the southern border.

"Eight years ago I said 'I'm fed up with the federal government, they are not going to do their constitutional responsibility to defend our sovereign border and when that happens I believe the states have not just an obligation but a right to step in and act independently of the government," Dewhurst continued.