Right-wing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday declared that he would round up and forcibly bus asylum-seekers and other migrants to Washington, D.C., in retaliation for the Biden administration’s just decision to end use of Stephen Miller’s anti-asylum order by end of May.
"To help local officials whose communities are being overwhelmed by hordes of illegal immigrants who are being dropped off by the administration, Texas is providing charter buses to send these illegal immigrants who have been dropped off by the Biden Administration to Washington, D.C.," Abbott offensively claimed in front of cameras.
But while Abbott puffed up his chest to make the kidnapping threat to the press and cameras, he was notably sedate in the state’s official release, which stated that the busing would actually be completely voluntary. Yes: Providing asylum-seeking families and individuals with Texas taxpayer-funded transportation to a region heavy with pro-immigrant advocacy groups to own the libs.
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The response to the initial reporting of Abbott’s plan was obviously abject horror. “This is literally kidnapping, right?” tweeted American Immigration Council senior policy counsel Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. “It’s not just me. You can’t just ‘send people’ places against their will. That’s a crime.” It would seem that way. "Any forcible busing of migrants across the country would be outrageous and blatantly unconstitutional," ACLU of Texas staff attorney Kate Huddleston said in a statement reported by The Texas Tribune.
Did Abbott then backtrack on his threat because “someone mentioned to him that busing people across state lines against their will is felony kidnapping,” as posited by Texas Monthly senior editor Jack Herrera? Or was this the plan all along, because he has a reelection campaign to win and knew it would be breathlessly reported by mainstream outlets and right-wing propagandists?
Then, possibly in response to backlash from racists really angry that it’s all voluntary, Abbott on Fox News refused to say if it was all voluntary:
We know Abbott’s reelection has been heavy on the anti-immigrant stunts. While he’s touted the multibillion dollar Operation Lone Star scheme as a success story, he refuses to be transparent about the data that would back up that lie.
“In the fight against fentanyl, DPS has seized over 288 million lethal doses throughout the state,” Abbott’s office has claimed. But a recent joint investigation from Marshall Project, ProPublica, and The Texas Tribune found that Texas has been citing drug seizures from areas that included “counties that did not receive additional resources from the operation, and some of the newly credited actions included work already conducted by troopers stationed there before the governor’s initiative began.” The report said that his office has fought dozens of public records requests.
The stunt this week drew support from Ted Cruz, who endorsed Abbott for reelection to boos last summer. Cruz, who last year was caught infamously vacationing in beautiful Cancún while Texans froze, said he supported sending migrants to regions including California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Maybe Ted is unaware, but all have immigrant-rich communities where families would assuredly be welcome. Once again, Texas taxpayer-funded rides to own the libs.
Greg Abbott is a fucking jackass but it doesn’t change the fact that his rhetoric is disgusting—and dangerous. “I see Greg Abbott wants to smuggle migrants,” America’s Voice campaign director Mario Carrillo initially tweeted in response to Abbott’s claim. “All jokes aside, just a truly despicable act by a nasty person who will stop at nothing to dehumanize migrants to score political points. He’s learned nothing from the attack in El Paso in 2019 and doesn’t care if it happens again.”
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