Gov. Greg Abbott makes Texas shooting about immigrants. That's despicable

Elvia Díaz, Arizona Republic
·2 min read
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Why isn’t Texas Gov. Greg Abbott asking how an “illegal” immigrant accused of shooting and killing five people, including a child, got an AR-15-style rifle?

That should be top priority for the governor, who clearly only cares about the legal status of the suspected gunman and the victims of this heinous crime.

Francisco Oropeza, 38, is the man accused of killing his neighbors over the weekend after he was asked to stop firing rounds in his yard in Cleveland, Texas. Authorities said Oropeza used an AR-15-style rifle in the killing spree.

Abbott is going all-out to catch the guy, offering a $50,000 reward and deploying every available resource to the manhunt — as he should. Additional money from other law enforcement agencies has added to the reward.

But what seems to matter most to the governor is not the loss of human lives but rather labeling the gunman and the victims as “illegal immigrants.” He noted as much in a tweet and a news release about the reward.

Texas shooting is a chance to play politics

Law enforcement authorities removing bodies from a scene where five people were shot the night before Saturday, April 29, 2023, in Cleveland, TX.
Law enforcement authorities removing bodies from a scene where five people were shot the night before Saturday, April 29, 2023, in Cleveland, TX.

Abbott doesn’t waste any opportunity to capitalize on the anti-immigrant sentiment — and this time is no exception.

“This is despicable,” Star Trek actor George Takei wrote on Twitter. “I would have thought bringing up the immigration status of the innocent victims of this senseless violence would be beneath even you. But I was wrong.”

Despicable, indeed. And not only because the “illegal” status of the victims may turn out to be untrue — some were reporting that at least one of the victims wasn’t in the country illegally — but because Abbott is politicizing the whole thing.

If the governor truly cares about the immigration status of the people involved in this Texas shooting, he should also be angry that an “illegal immigrant” obtained an AR-15-style rifle in the first place.

But no mention of that.

How did Oropeza get the firearms if he had no legal documents? Abbott doesn’t care about that or about the lives he cut short — obviously.

Elvia Díaz is editorial page editor for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1. 

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Texas shooting is not about the victims' immigration status