Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday blasted President Joe Biden after authorities found 46 dead migrants in a trailer.
On Monday evening, police discovered an 18-wheeler that carried up to 100 individuals abandoned in San Antonio, including at least 46 individuals who were deceased. Two more migrants later died at a Texas hospital, bringing the total death toll to 48.
Abbott took to social media to lash out at the president and criticized the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
“They are a result of his deadly open border policies. They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law,” Abbott tweeted.
Several other officials also blamed Biden for not doing enough to secure the southern border, including Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales, who also tweeted about the incident.
“Today in San Antonio it was 102 degrees. Imagine being abandoned inside an 18-wheeler left to die – 42 people died today – will @AliMayorkas even mention their names?” Gonzales said, referencing Alejandro Mayorkas, who was nominated by Biden to lead the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security.
The U.S. has been seeing massive migrant numbers after Biden announced that he would be lifting “Title 42,” a controversial border policy implemented by former President Donald Trump back in March 2020 that allowed the U.S. Border Patrol to turn migrants away.
“Title 42” has since been used by both the Trump and Biden administration, with the latter arguing that it was necessary to curb the spread of COVID-19 inside border detention facilities.
Border Patrol agents have also expressed concerns that ending the order could lead to a possible surge in illegal immigrants that could overwhelm them, as a large number of migrants in Mexican cities are apparently waiting for the policy to drop.
“We are expecting to get wrecked,” an agent told reporters.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently reported that only 50 migrants were arrested on the Terrorist Screening Database in Fiscal Year 2022, as well as 239,416 migrant encounters recorded last month, a new record itself.
CBP had previously stopped publicly posting updates after Biden took office, labeling the information as “law enforcement sensitive,” which frustrated lawmakers.
