Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is angrily blaming President Biden for the deaths of 51 migrants whose our bodies had been discovered after a tractor-trailer was found deserted in scorching temperatures in a suspected smuggling try.
Hours after dozens of our bodies had been found behind the 18-wheeler in San Antonio on Monday night, the Republican governor fired off a tweet saying, “These deaths are on Biden.
“They're a results of his lethal open border insurance policies,” Abbott seethed. “They present the lethal penalties of his refusal to implement the regulation.”
Different distinguished Republicans additionally blamed Biden’s immigration insurance policies for the tragedy, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tweeting, “What number of extra individuals should die earlier than Dems give a rattling?”
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) tweeted, “Right this moment in San Antonio it was 102 levels. Think about being deserted inside an 18-wheeler left to die … will [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas] even point out their names?”
Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn added, “There may be nothing compassionate in regards to the Biden administration’s open border coverage.”
Arizona Sen. Andy Biggs known as the fatalities “so tragic, so preventable.
“What Biden, Mayorkas, and Democrats refuse to acknowledge is that securing the border will save lives,” Biggs mentioned.
The president fired again Tuesday, calling “political grandstanding” over the tragedy “shameful.”
The deaths had been “horrifying and heartbreaking,” Biden mentioned in a press release.
“Whereas we're nonetheless studying all of the information about what occurred and the Division of Homeland Safety has the lead for the investigation, preliminary experiences are that this tragedy was brought on by smugglers or human traffickers who haven't any regard for the lives they endanger and exploit to make a revenue.
“Exploiting weak people for revenue is shameful, as is political grandstanding round tragedy, and my administration will proceed to do all the pieces attainable to cease human smugglers and traffickers from making the most of people who find themselves searching for to enter the USA between ports of entry.”
The “stacks of our bodies” had been found close to railroad tracks in a distant space on the southern outskirts of the town — after a metropolis employee heard a cry for assist from the truck shortly earlier than 6 p.m., authorities mentioned.
US authorities mentioned Tuesday that at a minimum of 51 individuals had perished within the truck.
Twenty-two had been Mexican nationals, seven had been from Guatemala and two from Honduras, mentioned Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Authorities had been nonetheless attempting to find out the nationality for the remaining deadly victims.
Responding officers arrived to seek out one of many our bodies on the bottom exterior the trailer. By dusk, dozens of physique baggage lay unfold throughout the bottom, and a few of the victims had been nonetheless contained in the trailer.
The our bodies had been solely found after a metropolis employee heard a cry for assist from the truck shortly earlier than 6 p.m., mentioned San Antonio Police Chief William McManus.
Authorities mentioned 16 survivors, together with 4 youngsters, had been rushed to a hospital to be handled for heat-related diseases. Fireplace Chief Charles Hood mentioned the sufferers had been scorching to the contact and dehydrated.
“They had been affected by warmth stroke and exhaustion,” Hood mentioned. “It was a refrigerated tractor-trailer, however there was no seen working AC unit on that rig.”
Temperatures in San Antonio reached a excessive of 103 Monday amid an ongoing warmth wave.
Three individuals had been taken into custody, however it wasn’t clear what their involvement was.
The horror tragedy is among the many deadliest to have claimed the lives of unlawful immigrants attempting to cross the US border from Mexico.
In 2017, 10 migrants died after changing into trapped in a truck parked exterior a San Antonio Walmart, whereas 19 migrants had been discovered useless in a truck in the identical metropolis in 2003.
Border Patrol has began warning migrants particularly of the hazards of crossing the border illegally after a spate of current drowning deaths within the Rio Grande or falls from the border wall.
“Transnational felony organizations proceed to threat immigrant lives,” US Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent for the El Paso Sector, Gloria Chavez, mentioned final week. “Their important goal is to make cash.”
The warnings come as migrant encounters on the US border proceed to soar to document highs, with a staggering 239,416 recorded final month, Customs and Border Safety information present.
The newest figures carry the full migrant encounters in fiscal 12 months 2022 to greater than 1.5 million.
Conservatives have slammed Biden’s dealing with of the border disaster – notably after his administration tried to elevate a Trump-era coverage, often called Title 42, which permits for the fast expulsion of unlawful immigrants due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Extra reporting by Desheania Andrewsand Put up wires
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