sawyer hackett
'Blood on His Hands': Abbott Under Fire for Busing Migrants to Chicago After 3-Year-Old Dies
"Not sure how many migrants need to literally die on Greg Abbott's watch for us to treat what's happening at the Texas border as the national scandal that it should be," said one journalist.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott faced fresh criticism on Friday after officials confirmed a young child died during a bus trip from the border city of Brownsville to Chicago, Illinois—part of the Republican's monthslong stunt of transporting migrants to communities with Democratic leaders.
"The Illinois Department of Public Health said the child was 3 years old and died Thursday in Marion County, in the southern part of that state," according toThe Associated Press.
Citing Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), whose office was brief on the death, The New York Timesreported that "the child's parents were also on the bus when the child began showing symptoms of an illness, including a fever and diarrhea, before losing consciousness."
The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) said in a statement that "once the child presented with health concerns, the bus pulled over and security personnel on board called 911 for emergency attention. After the ambulance arrived, bilingual security personnel translated for the parents and the paramedics who were providing care for the child."
"The child was then taken to a local hospital to receive additional medical attention and was later pronounced deceased," TDEM continued. The division noted that prior to boarding a bus "stocked with food and water," passengers "signed a voluntary consent waiver" to travel to Chicago and were screened for medical concerns.
"Devastating," declared United Farm Workers president Teresa Romera in response to the child's death. "This should tell you exactly how little Gov. Abbott values human life. Absolutely despicable."
Castro said on social media Friday evening that "I'm saddened and horrified but not surprised by a child's death on a Texas-sponsored bus to Chicago. Operation Lone Star has trafficked asylum-seekers across the country in squalid conditions for months. Gov. Greg Abbott's barbaric practices are killing people."
As the Chicago Tribune detailed:
Chicago has received at least 176 buses and more than 12,000 people in the 11 months since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began sending migrants from Texas to the city last year. The city of Denver and Catholic Charities in San Antonio have also sent buses of migrants to Chicago.
The busloads have contributed to a humanitarian crisis as the thousands of newly arrived people stretch city resources. Migrants have filled police station lobbies and large shelters across Chicago. Nearly 6,000 migrants resided in city-run temporary shelters at the start of August, while about 1,000 awaited placement.
The governor's Operation Lone Star includes a buoy barrier installed in the Rio Grande—which in July prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to sue Abbott and Texas. The suit says that "this floating barrier poses threats to navigation and public safety and presents humanitarian concerns" and cites "diplomatic protests by Mexico."
Since then, Mexican authorities have confirmed the discovery of two bodies in the river, including one found on the buoys.
Some critics of Abbott noted the mounting death toll on Friday. Among them was Democratic strategist and consultant Sawyer Hackett, who said of the governor, "He has blood on his hands."
MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan wrote on social media, "Not sure how many migrants need to literally die on Greg Abbott's watch for us to treat what's happening at the Texas border as the national scandal that it should be."
'A New Low, Even for You': Outrage After Gov. Abbott Denigrates Texas Murder Victims
"There is no reason to refer to the five victims—including a child—as 'illegal immigrants.' For Greg Abbott and the GOP, the cruelty is the point."
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sparked widespread outrage Sunday by derogatorily—and incorrectly—referring to five people killed in a Liberty County mass shooting two days earlier as "illegal immigrants."
On Friday evening, a drunk man allegedly shot and killed five people, including an 8-year-old boy, in a Cleveland home after residents asked him to stop shooting his AR-15-style rifle into the air. The gunman then fled the scene of the massacre and has been on the run ever since.
Police identified those killed as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 8. All were shot in the head or neck. According toKTRK, two of the slain women were found laying atop three children who were covered in blood but physically unharmed.
"This shooting has nothing to do with immigration status and much to do with your policies."
On Sunday, Abbott offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the suspect, identified as 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza. While the governor said that "our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of the five victims that were taken in this senseless act of violence," he drew nationwide rebuke for referring to the murdered people as "illegal immigrants."
It is believed that all five victims—and Oropeza—are from Honduras. While four of the victims are believed to be undocumented, Velazquez Alvarado's widower said the woman was a permanent U.S. resident and shared a photo of her green card with immigrant rights activist Carlos Eduardo Espina. Abbott's mischaracterization of all five as "illegal immigrants" drew an "added context" disclaimer from Twitter.
"Five human beings lost their lives and Greg Abbott insists on labeling them 'illegal immigrants,'" tweeted former San Antonio mayor and U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro.
\u201cA new low for @GregAbbott_TX, who continues to do nothing to keep #Texas safe from #GunViolence.\n\nGreg, how was an undocumented person able to obtain an AR-15 in the first place? I\u2019ll tell you why. It\u2019s because you and other Republicans have made safe gun laws nonexistent. \n\nI\u2026\u201d— Senator Roland Gutierrez (@Senator Roland Gutierrez) 1682904076
Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett, a former senior adviser to Castro, wrote on Twitter that "Greg Abbott is so morally bankrupt that he has to make the senseless murder of five people with an AR-15 about 'illegal immigration.'"
"Forty-eight hours after this massacre and this is the craven hackery he comes up with," Hackett added.
The advocacy group Voto Latino asserted that "there is no reason to refer to the five victims—including a child—as 'illegal immigrants.' For Greg Abbott and the GOP, the cruelty is the point."
Abbott, who is currently in his third term as governor, has been criticized for his tough-on-migrants policies, which include increased border militarization and—like his counterparts in Arizona and Florida—for busing migrants to cities and states with sanctuary policies.
Responding to Abbott's Sunday statement, attorney and political commentator Olayemi Olurin tweeted that "the dehumanization here is otherworldly."
\u201cI have been chastised for some of my language on Twitter. @GregAbbott_TX, you are a low life asshole. This shooting has nothing to do with immigration status and much to do with your policies. On behalf of those like my daughter who are victims of gun violence, FUCK YOU!!!\u201d— Fred Guttenberg (@Fred Guttenberg) 1682905102
"Even in their deaths he can't see undocumented immigrants as human beings," Olurin said of Abbott. "He couldn't think of anything to call a family who'd been murdered but illegal immigrants."
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), a San Francisco-based advocacy group, said in a Twitter thread that "public figures like Abbott leverage their status by using social media to amplify language painting a specific narrative intended to alter the way you view and treat the people around you. The victims here were your neighbors. They were your friends. They were your colleagues."
\u201cPoliticians like Abbott softball their constituents w/ alarmist narratives intended to fill you w/ fear + animosity for people you may not realize you already know + exist around you.\n\nThe end goal is pushing for policies that rely on the success of dehumanization to move forward\u201d— Immigrant Legal Resource Center (@Immigrant Legal Resource Center) 1682897658
"When we read things like that statement from Abbott and his social media team we are confronted with a choice," ILRC added. "Do we want to live in a world where people are... granted their dignity and humanity even in the face of unimaginable tragedy? Or do we want—this?"