We’re only five days away from what will be a historic election, and Donald Trump’s cronies continue peddling fear and inciting violence. This time, it came from CBP’ “Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner” Mark Morgan. In what looks like a crystal clear campaign event, and violation of campaign laws, Morgan traveled to the Texas border to tout Trump’s useless border wall and to instill fear that a Biden administration will lead to an “invasion” of undocumented immigrants.
Fortunately, as you can see from her tweets, El Paso’s Rep. Veronica Escobar called it out and with good reason.
None of this is new, coming from an administration that has used immigration as a tool for fear, but for those of us from the border, the fear that Morgan creates is a different one. Those of us from El Paso, like Rep. Escobar, will never forget August 3, 2019, a day in which a white supremacist published a manifesto, decrying a “Hispanic invasion” of Texas as a motivator for him to travel 10 hours from Dallas to the border city to track and kill Latinos.
This racist attack took 23 lives, and shocked a binational community known for being welcoming to those most in need. Last August, The Washington Post reported that the alleged shooter and anti-immigrant hate groups used similar language. And, we know there are very close ties between those groups and Trump administration officials.
El Paso was left reeling by the attack, especially as word of the shooter’s motives became clearer. To read his manifesto is to read rhetoric that isn’t all that different from the one pushed by Trump himself and many within his administration.
And, Rep. Escobar was not having it. She took Morgan to task for the carelessness and callousness of his word, especially to a community still grieving more than a year later. Her twitter thread is worth a read:
THREAD: I've said the only way to hold racism to account is to call it out.
I’m calling out @CBPMarkMorgan.
After seeing this tweet identifying migrants as an “invasion,” I reached out to him, asking that he recognize the connotations of the word “invasion” and delete it. https://t.co/be3wMVzrra
— Veronica Escobar (@vgescobar) October 28, 2020
Morgan refused saying we can't “cancel” the word "invasion" b/c of sensitivities around its use.
On August 3, 2019 a domestic terrorist confessed that he drove over 600 miles to massacre Mexicans and immigrants who were part of an “invasion.” The bloodshed was fueled by racism.
— Veronica Escobar (@vgescobar) October 28, 2020
.@realDonaldTrump's racism & xenophobia put a target on our back, fueling the violence inflicted on us that day. And his embrace of white nationalism has fueled the increase of hate crimes across our country.
Morgan is using his govt-funded bully pulpit to mirror Trump's words.
— Veronica Escobar (@vgescobar) October 28, 2020
And even if we disregard the racially charged nature of the tweet & the use of the word “invasion,” it’s clear that Trump's taxpayer-funded DHS crew (@DHS_Wolf, @HomelandKen and now @CBPMarkMorgan) are using their govt positions to send a message 6 days away from the election.
— Veronica Escobar (@vgescobar) October 28, 2020
The unsubtle campaign message in Morgan's tweet: don't change leaders because they might change strategies.
The fact is the cruelty, waste & incompetence of this administration has never been a solution. It's a stain on America's reputation and a dark moment in U.S. history.
— Veronica Escobar (@vgescobar) October 28, 2020
But I guess it should be no surprise that they use their bureaucratic twitter accounts to foment fear.
They probably understand how hard it will be to get the Trump stink off their name and reputation once we're rid of him.
May they be linked to him forever.
– fin –
— Veronica Escobar (@vgescobar) October 28, 2020
While Morgan refused Escobar’s request to stop using the word “invasion,” it appears Morgan was locked out of his Twitter account – and should have been for spewing racist rhetoric that has incited violence.
