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Gov. Greg Abbott sparked widespread outrage this month after he explained what’s apparently preventing Texas authorities from shooting immigrants at the border: murder charges.
The Republican came under fire after a clip of his interview on The Dana Loesch Show started circulating on social media.
“We are deploying every tool and strategy that we possibly can,” Abbott told his conservative host. “The only thing that we’re not doing is we’re not shooting people who come across the border because, of course, the Biden administration would charge us with murder.”
Although it isn’t far from sentiments he’s expressed in the past, this breathtaking admission attracted immediate and fierce condemnation from Democrats.
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Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa decried the GOP leader in a statement posted to X. He argued the remarks underscore how Abbott and Texas Republicans “have no morality or humanity.”
Hinojosa further criticized the methods used by Texas border officials: family separations, “medieval death traps” and “mass imprisonment of migrants and Texans” who are assumed to be undocumented.
“This is the same rhetoric endorsed by domestic terrorists such as the El Paso shooter, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and former President Donald Trump – who recently echoed Adolf Hitler by accusing immigrants of ‘poisoning the blood of our country,'” Hinojosa continued.
RELEASE: Greg Abbott Admits that Texas Government is Only Deterred From Shooting Migrant Women and Children by Fear of Murder Charges #txlege
— Texas Democrats (@texasdemocrats) January 11, 2024
Read more: https://t.co/DvNMmQKEt7 pic.twitter.com/CPibcRKpfQ
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Dallas Democrat, also cited the state’s strict abortion bans in her response.
“A list of people my Governor appears to think it should be legal to kill: – anyone crossing the border – anyone experiencing pregnancy complications who needs emergency medical care,” she said on X.
A list of people my Governor appears to think it should be legal to kill:
— Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (@RepJasmine) January 11, 2024
– anyone crossing the border
– anyone experiencing pregnancy complications who needs emergency medical care https://t.co/PWaY7T4Cdr
Other Democratic detractors pointed out that Abbott has been a champion for so-called religious freedom in the state. Before his time in the governor’s mansion, when he was Texas’ attorney general, Abbott fought for the placement of a monument depicting the Ten Commandments outside the state Capitol.
Austin state Rep. James Talarico posted a photo of Abbott gesturing toward the massive monument, along with the audio recording of the governor’s migrant comments.
“Thou shalt not kill,” Talarico captioned the post.
Thou shalt not kill. https://t.co/e7Kj5RIry9 pic.twitter.com/AjeYdMpD22
— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) January 11, 2024
Matt Angle, founder and director of the Lone Star Project, a Democratic research group, wrote on X that the governor is gunning to be picked as the running mate for former President Donald Trump, who’s vying for the White House again this year.
MSNBC host Chris Hayes posted on X that if Abbott had worded the shooting comment differently, it would have read: “If we thought we could get away with it, we would murder all the men women and children coming to apply for asylum.”
The governor of Texas says he’d kill more immigrants if it weren’t illegal. https://t.co/iLAUwM2n9T
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) January 11, 2024
Beto O’Rourke, who ran against Abbott for governor in 2022, also weighed in with his own take: “The governor of Texas says he’d kill more immigrants if it weren’t illegal.”
