Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott is coming under fire for his response to the deaths of what authorities now say are the deaths of 50 people found in San Antonio locked in a tractor-trailer that crossed the border into the United States. 16 people, including young children, were found alive and hospitalized.
It is being called “the deadliest migrant-smuggling operation in memory.”
“These deaths are on Biden,” the two-term governor running for re-election tweeted Monday night. “They are a result of his deadly open border policies. They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law.”
Many on social media noted that if the border were “open,” migrants desperate to come into the U.S. wouldn’t have had to risk their lives in the back of an 18-wheeler in 101-degree Texas heat to do so. Some noted San Antonio is hours – about 150 miles – from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Others blasted Abbott for politicizing their deaths, treating them as a political “opportunity” instead of as human beings who died trying to find a better life. Some also noted Abbott has spent billions to deploy the Texas National Guard to the southern border, in what has been called a “campaign prop,” with little to show for it. (The Houston Chronicle in April put the cost to Texas taxpayers at $4 billion.)
By comparison, San Antonio mayor Ron Nirenberg called the deaths “a horrific human tragedy,” The New York Times reported. “The plight of migrants seeking refuge is always a humanitarian crisis.”
Abbott’s response elicited anger from many.
“So it’s not OK to politicize school shootings but it is OK to politicize migrant deaths? I see,” tweeted the LA Times’ Elvia Limón.
Republican turned Democrat Matthew Dowd:
The communications director for the Libertarian Party did not hold back.
“I’m normally measured. Respectful. Not tonight,” tweeted Bekah Congdon. “Fuck you, Greg Abbott, you fucking monster. Why the fuck would people have to be smuggled into this country if we had anything resembling open borders? Are you as dumb as you are evil? Human lives. Political pawns to you.”
Others also expressed outrage: