Castro brothers talk of Texas GOP, the anniversary of El Paso shooting

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By Delilah Alvarado

(El Paso, Texas) The anniversary of the El Paso Walmart shooting is coming up as Gov. Greg Abbott continues to fuel false rhetoric about immigrants and passes an executive order allowing the pulling over of immigrants which has caused controversy.

On Sunday, Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro and U.S. Representative (D-San Antonio) Joaquin Castro spoke on American Voices with MSNBC.

"Governor Greg Abbott of Texas knows exactly what he's doing," said Rep. Joaquin Castro. "He's putting a target on the backs of brown-skinned immigrants and he's scared of losing his Republican primary so he's trying to do everything he can to play with his base."

On July 28, Gov. Abbott issued his executive order that orders state troopers to pull over vehicles whose drivers are transporting migrants who also pose a risk of carrying the virus, according to The Texas Tribune.

The order allows the Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to either seize the vehicle if the driver does not comply with orders or to reroute the vehicles back to their origin point.

Abbott also passed another executive order prohibiting government-funded entities to enforce mask mandates or enforce vaccinations – even as school districts and government officials ask to allow masks mandates. Abbott said in a statement that his order on immigrants “will reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure in our communities."

Advocates and immigration attorneys have spoken out against this order, including Joaquin Castro.

"How would you determine that? How would you figure that out [vehicles carrying migrants] in a fair and reasonable way? So what it's basically done is opened up the possibility that people could be stopped if they have brown skin and other folks in the car, for no reason at all."

Another criticism is that this will only cause more crowding and chaos at shelters that assist migrants to get to a final destination – as some of them have recently hit capacity.

This order comes before the two-year anniversary of the El Paso shooting at a Walmart that killed 23 people on Aug. 3.

The gunman, Patrick Crusius, killed 22 and injured 26 others confessed to driving over 600 miles from his home in Allen, Texas, to the border with the intention of targeting Mexicans. Before the shooting, he allegedly posted a hate-filled racist manifesto to 8chan, a site popular with white supremacists, ranting against interracial mixing and the "Hispanic invasion of Texas."

Occurring under the Trump Administration, many pointed to former President Donald Trump for fueling anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric which could have inspired Crusius.

Gov. Greg Abbott has been making statements that there is a border crisis the Biden Administration is responsible for and that the immigrants are to blame for the rise in COVID-19 cases.

The Biden Administration is recklessly releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants who have COVID into Texas communities.

The Biden Admin. must IMMEDIATELY end this callous act that exposes Texans & Americans to COVID.

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 3, 2021

A day after Gov. Abbott issued the order, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland told Abbott in a letter the Department of Justice “intends to pursue all appropriate legal remedies to ensure that Texas does not interfere with the functions of the federal government” if he does not rescind the order.