On Monday, the governor took to his X account to flippantly add to his list of threats against migrants.
“Alligators are in the Rio Grande,” the governor wrote. “FYI there are warning signs posted in some sectors. Cross at your own risk.”
Below the governor’s threat was a video by an “independent journalist” named Auden B. Cabello of a long, rather menacing-looking alligator he says was taken in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass. Eagle Pass has been the epicenter of the battle between Abbott and President Joe Biden over how the border can and cannot be secured.
Alligators are in the Rio Grande.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 29, 2024
FYI there are warning signs posted in some sectors.
Cross at your own risk. https://t.co/20ERlPNW8E
According to The Washington Post on Monday, U.S. Border Patrol encountered 130,000 migrants crossing illegally into the U.S. That’s a dramatic decrease from the reported 250,000 illegal migrant crossings in December.
Our governor’s gator tweet garnered attention from both around the U.S. and from across the pond. The Daily Mail noted this isn't the first time Abbott has pushed “post” on an alligator-intensive tweet, a thinly veiled threat, perhaps.
“In May last year he tweeted footage of a huge adult male eyeballing Texas National Guard members as it floated next to their patrol boat outside Eagle Pass,” The Daily Mail reported.
This comes after a number of reports from the border indicate that migrants have sometimes been subjected to dehumanizing and deadly conditions, treatment or, in some cases, lack of treatment. But not by alligators.
Senate Bill 4, which would allow police officers in Texas to arrest migrants they see illegally crossing the border into Texas the same way that federal agents can, has been stuck in back-and-forth court proceedings for months, much in the way that the state’s use of razor wire and the large floating barrier has been. Seems Abbott has found his back-up plan should those court battles eventually not go his way.
