Extremists Flock to Texas
Happy Monday!
This is the 15th edition of Capitol.Press. This morning, we’ll debunk some of the extremist rhetoric flooding the airwaves as the press declares 2024 “The Immigration Election”. Let’s jump right in —
To begin, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is not defying the Supreme Court by putting down more razor wire.
As heroic as Abbott and his ilk pretend to be on right-wing press interviews, the truth is that the SCOTUS decision simply allows for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to cut and remove razor wire when needed. No court has ordered the State of Texas to stop installing more razor wire. So Abbott is not being defiant. He’s just being political.
Contrary to recent reporting, the “crisis” at the border is anything but…
The truth is that the vast majority of migrants cross near CBP stations to more easily turn themselves in so they can claim asylum — as the law dictates they must. Forcing asylum-seekers to traverse alternate routes is deadly.
Because of this, reporting from areas where migrants predictably cross in large numbers, such as Eagle Pass, makes it easy to drive a narrative that some major event is occurring even though per-agent encounters are the lowest ever.
Regardless, calling it a crisis only serves far-right narratives. In times like these, the language we use is of the utmost importance.
There is no evidence that terrorists are entering the US via the southern border.
Despite this portrayal being debunked many times, the fearmongering persists. Here are the facts —
In October, DHS helped debunk this claim after a bulletin from CBP in San Diego was leaked to Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller and it turned out to be false
We then asked Senators if they had seen any evidence of terrorists and received a resounding “no” from many.
Migrants aren’t coming to the US and committing rapes and murders
Despite the right-wing narrative that this is the case, no data supports this claim.
Instead, the data show otherwise as both undocumented and documented immigrants commit far less crime than native-born US citizens.
Asylum seekers aren’t smuggling drugs or trafficking humans. This is another far-right narrative that conservative influencers and media outlets like Fox News bolster.
The truth is that over 90% of all drugs trafficked into the US come through points of entry either in trucks or shipping containers as CBP only checks about 5% of all cargo due to fears of disrupting the supply chain.
According to US government data, nearly 99% of all drugs brought into the country are smuggled by US citizens, not migrants
When we remove propaganda from the far-right narrative, their motivations become clear. It’s not any of these things they fear. It’s Latinophobia using decades-old Klan-like talking points.
— Arturo, a Texan
We’re on TikTok!
Check out Arturo’s TikTok correcting Abbott’s “defiance” propaganda here.