Mexico accuses Texas governor of 'promoting' attacks on migrants
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Mexico has formally protested against what it has called "aggressive insinuations" made by Texas Governor Greg Abbott regarding immigrants.
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Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks during a news conference in Uvalde, Texas, in June 2022. (AFP)
The Mexican Foreign Ministry said that the Governor of Texas is endorsing a "violent act" against migrants seeking to reach the United States. Recently, Greg Abbott stated that his administration was taking comprehensive measures to address the immigration crisis, but stopped short of explicitly mentioning "shooting people."
In a statement released on Friday night, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry urged “respect for human rights” while criticizing “all types of aggressive insinuations against a person's life.”
“Mexico deplores the comments made by Texas Governor Greg Abbot and expresses its deepest concern about any type of expression that encourages violent acts and the dehumanization of the migrant community,” the ministry added.
The statement pertained to a statement Greg Abbott gave on January 5 to radio host Dana Loesch, centering on the migrant crisis. When questioned about whether additional measures could be taken to "protect the border" in his state, the governor responded in the negative.
“We are deploying every tool and strategy that we possibly can. 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,” Abbott said.
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The remarks also faced condemnation from the Texas Democratic Party, with legislators accusing Abbott of supporting violence.
“I can’t believe I have to say ‘murdering people is unacceptable,’” Rep. Veronica Escobar said in a post, on social media. Meanwhile, party chairman Gilbert Hinojosa argued that murder charges were “the only thing stopping Greg Abbott from ordering law enforcement to shoot migrant women and children.”
Under pressure to explain the comments during a news conference on Friday, Abbott claimed that his words were misunderstood, emphasizing that he was addressing a specific question regarding legality.
“I was asked to point out… where the line is drawn about what would be illegal and I pointed out something that is obviously illegal,” he said.
News published in December reported that the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stated there were 233,740 interactions between migrants and border guards in November, marking the highest ever documented for that month.
Under Operation Lone Star, Abbott has aimed to construct barriers along the border and has detained nearly 500,000 illegal immigrants. Texas has additionally transported over 97,000 migrants, whom federal authorities had permitted into the country, to Democrat-led jurisdictions such as New York City, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.
Read more: Republicans brandish immigration sword in the face of Biden
