Tag Archives: border wall

This Week in Migrant Killing

2 Migrants Killed in Border Patrol Chase

Border Patrol doesn’t seem to have much to do down on the border, so, when they have the chance to chase down migrants being driven in a private vehicle you know the chances are good that they will cause an accident–even death. And that is what occurred in Uvalde, TX when the Migra gave chase down a stretch of highway that led into downtown Uvalde and caused a collision of the pickup being chased into a semi-tractor killing two and injuring 10 others in the pickup.

It’s no secret that these migrant chases are a danger, not just to law enforcement and the migrants, but also for innocent drivers who get caught up in them. And it’s not just the Border Patrol, which is led by Joe Biden, but also Greg Abbotts boondoggle which funds overtime for DPS and local sheriffs.

What is unfortunate is that Democrats running statewide aren’t saying much, other than Abbott’s activities are a waste. Well, duh. In fact, Abbott’s activities are a danger to all and are the cause of racist practices and policies beyond what Abbott leads. Biden sitting on these policies and not doing much about them doesn’t help, either.

Bigots Murder Migrant in West Texas

Two brothers, one of them a jail warden at a private migrant prison, gave themselves the authority to shoot at migrants during their free time.

Two men shot two migrants, killing one and injuring another, earlier this week while the two victims stood along a West Texas road getting water, authorities said. One of the alleged shooters is reportedly a warden for a privately run immigration detention center.

So, Texas bigotry promoted and led by Greg Abbott meets the private prison boondoggle. They were only charged with manslaughter, from initial reports. So, it must be asked: What the fuck is going on?

Anyway, this is another example of continued racist policies and practices in the name of “securing borders.” And nothing has been said by Democrats running statewide.

Abbott’s Border Wall

Greg Abbott just wasted $300 million on 14 miles of border wall. This is just another death-causing ploy as migrants will still cross, but in more dangerous and treacherous areas of the border. They’ll die from the heat, from vigilantes, and/or migrant chases.

UPDATE: Beto O’Rourke responded this morning on his FB page:

This is the predictable result when Abbott describes asylum seekers as an “invasion,” asks Texans to “defend” the state from immigrants by “taking matters into our own hands,” and treats refugees like political props instead of human beings.

We saw it 3 years ago in El Paso. We will continue to see this until we have a governor who sees migrants as human beings, and is focused on solutions instead of political stunts.

We have real problems at our border and with our immigration system. Everyone can agree on that much. But I hope we can also agree that stunts like busing asylum seekers, and inciting hatred for and fear of those fleeing dictatorships hasn’t solved any of those problems.

We should focus on the commonsense solutions that most Texans actually agree on: a safe, legal, orderly path for those who want to come here to work, join family or seek asylum. A Texas-based guest worker program could meet critical labor needs in construction, agriculture and a number of other industries in Texas, supporting Texas businesses and our economy.

We could work with federal partners to lift the visa caps on countries like Mexico, where the wait-time to join family members today can take up to 20 years. And for asylum seekers, let’s fund more judges and administrators to adjudicate asylum claims far more quickly. Today, it can take 6 years. How about working to get it down to a matter of months?

When we ensure that those who come to our country follow our laws—and that our laws follow our values and economic needs—not only will we achieve much more for our fellow Texans, we will be far more successful at stopping drug traffickers and human smugglers who mean us harm.

That means we no longer have people coming in between ports of entry, crossing into the U.S. undocumented, risking their lives and putting extraordinary strain on Border Patrol agents and border communities. It means that we are safer, stronger, and more successful as a state.

We are better than this news. Now is the time to prove it.

Greg Abbott’s Inhumanity Continues

Let’s not be shocked that Greg Abbott’s inaction on COVID-19 continues. Instead of a strong push on vaccinations, he’s just sitting back and doing nothing. Instead of a push to encourage mask-wearing, he’s safe in the mansion enjoying the holidays. He fears his right-wing base so much that he won’t even tell us if he got the booster or not. And as Trump found out, ignorance is bliss with that crowd. All this as Omicron is upon us and the last check on COVID-19 positivity tracking toward 15%. With all the testing going on of travelers and people wanting to visit their families, it’s sure to jump a bit more.

Meanwhile, Abbott’s use of the Texas-Mexico border for political purposes continues. He’s trumping up a wall–less than 1,000 feet so far. He’s thrown tax dollars at it–a billion dollars which will build a few miles for photo op purposes. No details and no transparency, but that’s how Republicans work as they dole out money to corporations for this debacle. All while blaming migrants escaping violence and poverty caused by bad US policy. If Texans buy this as a solution, well, the stupid is strong in those believers.

Then, there’s the “catch and jail” program in which Abbott charges migrants with trespassing when captured on private border land, places them in a state prison (which are badly run), and give them to border counties (Kinney) to prosecute. This whole program is a farce and badly run, just like the state of Texas, as the judge in charge has appointed his own set of judges to ensure Abbott keeps his prison filled with pre-trial detainees.

Then, there’s Abbott rescinding a posthumous pardon of George Floyd because of a clerical error? Thousands of employees and lots of lawyers and they can’t get it right? C’mon!

So, as Kuff reminds us today, Abbott is the same as he ever was. Evil.

Visit BetoForTexas.com for the alternative.

Same Characters, Same Border Fear-Mongering

The Lite Gov of Texas told El Cheeto he’d build the wall for him and the orange one ran with it.

“One of the things that Dan Patrick suggested, which I thought was very interesting, was: Give the state of Texas a relatively small amount of money — they’ll build a wall themselves, cause they wanna build it,” Trump said.

Talk about boondoggles.

Although, I still think I can do it cheaper than you. … You do things very well in Texas, and I like that idea, so we’ll take a look.”

If this doesn’t sound like a competition for kickbacks on kickbacks, I don’t know what else it could be. Of course, there’s also the racist nature of Trump and Patrick who salivate at the thought of banning brown people from the USA.

Patrick’s idea is a 200 mile wall from Brownsville to Falcon Lake–basically, South Texas. And Texas will still spend another billion dollars on the current boondoggle of a “border surge” that has destabilized communities and militarized the border.

Needless to say, the Texas legislative session just got a little more interesting.

Here in Houston, Chief Art Acevedo joined the debate by stating that the border issue is overblown and that more money is needed for law enforcement on the streets of Houston. A recent murder of a child by alleged gang members has brought the gang issue back into the light.

ABC13 reported on this with the cops union boss blaming the border and immigrants for Houston crime, thus supporting Trump’s policies. This is nothing new as the cops union has supported racist policies like SB4, 287g and Secure Communities in the past.

This is why I’ve always told “progressive” politicians: Stay away from bigoted policies and those who support them! You’ll never out-bigot the bigots.

I’m expecting border issues to become localized as the cops union gets involved and somehow it all makes it into the mayoral debates of 2019. When Houston is experiencing a host of issues, lack of money, and lack of political will, blaming others for problems is to be expected.

Stay tuned, folks.

The Border Boondoggle Must End

I skipped Stormy doing the laundry to watch El Cheeto do his usual best to divide and conquer an already divided nation–all for a wall.

What most Americans don’t realize is the “humanitarian” crisis he kept mentioning has nothing to do with mothers and children escaping violence and poverty in Central America. He seems to care more about the sensibilities of his racist base and anyone else who feels victimized by the mere sight of brown people.

Some were predicting lie after lie by Trump, and I haven’t had time to go over the numbers he spouted, nor do I want to. Whether one fact-checks Trump or not, he said it before a national audience and no corrective measure will cause a sudden change of heart in the bigots who support him. Standing against everything he is about is about the only thing that will work, in my opinion.

The Democratic response left much to be desired. Standing against the wall is fine and dandy, but funneling more money into the border boondoggle is not a solution when we throw money at one part of system (enforcement gadgets) but ignore the rest of the system (immigration). Ultimately, all Pelosi and Schumer presented was just another “tough talk” tactic to appease anti-immigrant hardliners to re-open the government and some pro-migrant platitudes from eight years ago. We’ll see how this works out.

Democrats are missing out on a real opportunity to change the conversation toward one that discusses fixing the system. Instead, Democrats want to keep funding a broken system in which human rights are violated on a daily basis; captured children have died; which continues funding baby jail contractors; and keeps the border militarized, in exchange for Trump backing down on a wall. Appeasing evil doesn’t sound workable to me, and Trump is definitely evil.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sure as hell has the right idea.