Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Twitter feed reads like a right-wing message board, chock-full of pro-gun rhetoric, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and even pro-gun and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
So it comes as no surprise that Abbott is being widely criticized for his cruel response to the mass shooting in his state Friday.
A man suspected of using an AR-15 rifle to kill five neighbors execution-style continued to elude an army of law enforcement hunting for him outside Houston over the weekend. Authorities said Sunday afternoon that Francisco Oropesa, 38, appeared to have slipped past a 2-mile dragnet of more than 150 law enforcement officers in Cleveland, Texas, about 45 miles north of Houston, on Saturday.
Authorities say Oropesa opened fire on his neighbors late Friday after one of them complained that gunfire coming from Oropesa’s property was keeping an infant from sleeping. A 9-year-old was among the five people killed.
Abbott said nothing about the mass shooting from either his personal or official Twitter account on Saturday, though he did find time to post this tweet with a dog.
“All smiles for the weekend,” Abbott wrote.
All smiles for the weekend. pic.twitter.com/SygCZTYjtA
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 29, 2023
Things got worse from there.
When Abbott finally mentioned the shooting in a Sunday tweet, he received a torrent of criticism for highlighting the massacred family’s alleged immigration status, and for doing the same with the suspect.
“I’ve announced a $50K reward for info on the criminal who killed 5 illegal immigrants Friday,” he posted alongside a statement in which he offered condolences.
I’ve announced a $50K reward for info on the criminal who killed 5 illegal immigrants Friday. Also directed #OperationLoneStar to be on the lookout.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 30, 2023
I continue working with state & local officials to ensure all available resources are deployed to respond. pic.twitter.com/SpkUgKqKGe
With this act, Abbott appeared to want to make a story about violent crime into a story about immigration. It’s a racist association that has become normal among conservatives these days. But even if it turns out that some or all of the victims were undocumented, there’s no plausible explanation — aside from xenophobia — for Abbott to refer to their citizenship status there.
For one, undocumented people have a right not to be killed or harmed, although Texas Republicans seem to struggle with this fact. And, as many immigrant rights advocates have noted, the term “illegal immigrant” is flawed on both legal and moral grounds. On top of that, the governor is clearly being choosy with the people he elects to malign. His own attorney general, Ken Paxton, has been under criminal indictment for several years now on fraud allegations, and he’s the subject of a federal corruption probe as well.
But Abbott has never once referred to his AG as a “fraud suspect.”
With family and community members still grieving, one might think it ill-advised to push anti-immigrant rhetoric when talking about the victims of a mass shooting.
Good luck convincing Greg Abbott.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.