There’s a rape crisis underway in Texas but Governor Greg Abbott can only see it as an opportunity. Texas Association Against Sexual Assault’s data (supported by other humanitarian groups) indicates vulnerable people are regularly being sexually assaulted and in some cases murdered as they try to make it past the border.
Rather than try to protect them, Abbott is using the crimes as a warning via a vindictive slogan on billboards that calls them “tough medicine” and another that says “Your wife and daughter will pay for their trip with their bodies.”
In the heat of Trump’s third campaign, he stopped by Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant podcast and continued his long-documented demonization of migrants — calling them terrorists, among other things — and assured listeners that during his term, the border would be completely closed once he regained power. This statement has led to people rushing to the border before Trump’s official inauguration. However, it might be worth mentioning that during the same podcast, Trump expressed some sympathy for non-criminal migrants escaping hostile lives and seeking a sensible path to citizenship.
That moment of apparent empathy, like many of Trump’s others, didn’t last. Shortly after winning, Trump announced his intent to hire Tom Homan as his border czar — a man who has stated he wouldn’t mind deporting entire families, regardless of whether some members have papers or not. This decision was applauded by Gov. Abbott, who called Homan “the right man for the job,” according to The Hill. Abbott added that he’s already started working with Homan to develop more of his strange ideas for tackling the migrant crisis.
Gov. Abbott has made illegal immigration the centerpiece of his gubernatorial term and took to X to tout the achievements of his Operation Lone Star project, launched three years ago. Abbott reported 49,000 arrests and the seizure of over 500 million deadly fentanyl doses, among other statistics.
However, it seems Abbott believes his efforts still aren’t enough. Gov. Abbott, well known for his controversial statements, is now erecting billboards at strategic points in both Texas and Mexico, written in multiple languages. KXAN reported that Abbott announced this initiative at the ranch of Kim and Martin Wall, who have witnessed numerous migrant-related crimes, such as rape and murder. The situation has become so dire on their property that they’ve had to burn entire trees under which migrants hid during assaults, leaving the Walls feeling unsafe on their property.
Abbott has used this grim reality as an opportunity to install billboards that allude to such violence as inevitable. This situation is especially harrowing because it mirrors the type of violence many are fleeing in the first place. Human rights groups have reported that some 11-year-old girls among the migrants are being given morning-after pills to tuck into their bras — just in case they are sexually assaulted on their journey to America.
There are no easy solutions to the migrant crisis, but perhaps Gov. Abbott should sit down and ask himself if the message he wants to send is this: Texas is dangerous for women and children.