Officers working for Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security initiative have been ordered to push small children and nursing babies back into the Rio Grande, and have been told not to give water to asylum seekers even in extreme heat, according to an email from a Department of Public Safety trooper who described the actions as “inhumane.”

      • conductor@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Do you know if that voter participation rate is lower than other states?

        If so, I’m curious why it’s like that. If not, fixing it seems like a pipe dream.

        • heylilsharty@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          TX voter turnout in general and by young people is on the lower end of all of the US states, although young voter turnout is not amazing anywhere.

          I spent 10 years of my adult life in Texas, as a young adult avidly into government at all levels no less, and I struggled to cast votes a number of times due pretty much entirely to registration issues. Separately, in Nov 2020, while out of state for work during the presidential election, my partner and I both could not get approved for mail-in ballots and we each had to fly in JUST to vote. Maddening. I’m sure that plenty of people do not have the conviction/resources to buy a last minute flight from their responsibilities just to go vote in a designated building in TX. And we all know it doesn’t have to be like that because plenty of states let people vote from wherever via mail without issue.

          Given, I have ADHD and my registration obstacles sometimes were attributed to stupid ADHD mistakes (not understanding my registration hadn’t updated counties with my State ID address change until I was at the poll on Election Day, for example - I would’ve needed to catch this mistake 30 days in advance of Election Day to correct it, or travel across the state to my previous county of residence), but I also know plenty of people who’ve missed their voting chance because they changed last names (marriage/divorce) and documentation wasn’t all updated concurrently, because of limited poll hours/locations especially for hourly workers, because of random voter roll purges, because of confusion around where to vote/register as a college student away from home, etc etc. You can imagine how these woes alone would dampen young people turnout, gerrymandering and jadedness notwithstanding. It is completely intentional by the controlling party in the legislature.

  • LuckyCharmsNSoyMilk@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    "President Biden has unleashed a chaos on the border that’s unsustainable, and we have a constitutional duty to respond to this unprecedented crisis.”

    …by trying to fucking kill them.

    • Raphael@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That quote is huge, it demonstrates the sheer amount of insanity these people have.

      President Biden has unleashed a chaos on the border that’s unsustainable

      we have a constitutional duty to respond to this unprecedented crisis.”

      It’s this kind of people you’re all dealing with. (I was about to “we” but I got stalked after saying “we” here because I’m not American)

      • Raging LibTarg@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Now, imagine you live on the NORTHERN border of the US, and you still hear rhetoric like that you’ve quoted from the article from your political representatives. This is shit I see almost once a week from my US representative living on the red side of Washington State.

        Never mind that a) we’re literally as far as one gets from the southern border, and b) the rural farmers out here rely on immigrants for their labor. It is truly baffling to me how this is a top 5 issue for the constituency around here.

      • bdiddy@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        not just that, it’s a 40 year problem at this point… Our ARCHAIC drug laws are to blame for literally all of it. Meanwhile Texas wont even consider legalizing marijuana in any way shape or form…

        This shit is by design and it’s the republicans of TX that helped design it.

        They are using this new “BIDEN DID THIS” messaging to try and get more of the border latino vote… Problem is, again, this is a 40 year problem at this point.

    • Ghyste@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I still want one of these idiots to explain how Biden somehow personally did this. Not to mention that during his administration more border crossers have been caught and undocumented people deported than the previous admin ever did.

      Then again the previous admin just liked keeping people in cages and giving their shitbag politicians and officials tours.

    • TheK@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      So many heinous atrocities have been committed by people who were “just following orders”

      It’s really disconcerting.

  • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Reminds me of a story from Nazi Germany where a Jewish woman was holding her baby on a train platform and the baby wouldn’t stop crying. A Nazi guard came over, grabbed the baby by the feet, and slammed it against a brick wall as hard as he could. He then handed the baby back to the mother and said something like “it’s quiet now.”

    The people that support this are just like Nazi guards.

  • Rottcodd@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I’ve reached the point that nothing Texas does even surprises me.

    Weren’t they threatening to secede?

    I wish they’d get on with it.

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      Only a small group of Texans seriously talk about secession, and of course they haven’t the first clue what that would actually mean for them. But, there’s also the super awkward juxtaposition between wanting to secede and be an “American patriot”, so those idiots can’t even agree on what they actually want other than to hate minorities.

      • weedazz@lemmy.world
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        Well wanting to secede is kind of the whole basis of the USA. these “patriots” have convinced themselves they’re the real Americans and everyone else is wrong, so they’re trying to follow order 1776

      • tallwookie@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        yep, no states are allowed to secede anymore - if the Nation dissolves then they can find their own way or whatever

    • Ghyste@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Going in and taking the state back for the union would probably be the fastest way to take care of most of the problem people… You might be on to something.

  • BusterStatus@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Really hard to understand how this is a logical thought process that can be had by an elected leader and by extension how the voting public can look at someone like that and say, “yep, that’s my guy.”

  • tallwookie@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    but the Rio Grande is a river. do we deny them access to the river or push them into the river? seems nonsensical at best

    • PrometheusG@lemmy.one
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      We can’t deny them access to the river since Mexico owns the other shore. So they’re free to jump in, free to swim across, just not get out the other side.