WASHINGTON — Some Texas Democrats are warning that aggressive enforcement actions and strong language being used against migrants crossing the southern border could have catastrophic consequences. This is happening after a Tennessee militia member was arrested for allegedly planning to travel to the southern border with a stockpile of weapons to commit acts of violence against federal border agents.

What You Need To Know

  • Some Texas Democrats are warning that aggressive enforcement actions and strong language being used against migrants crossing the southern border could have catastrophic consequences

  • They cite the El Paso Walmart shooting in 2019 that left 23 people dead, and how the shooter said online that his attack was a response to the “Hispanic invasion of Texas”

  • All this is occurring as a bipartisan Senate compromise on border security imploded this week
  • Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, believes it is important to highlight the contributions of the Latino community in the U.S.

It's not just Republican lawmakers from his own state that Gov. Greg Abbott is bringing down to the southern border. Abbott recently invited fellow Republican governors to observe his administration’s border enforcement program. 

“A state can defend itself and its citizens to protect their safety, from the imminent danger that we are facing, and from an invasion,” Abbott said at a news conference during the governors’ visit.

Although Abbott and other Republicans say their actions have nothing to do with campaigning, some Texas Democrats criticize the gatherings as a political stunt. 

“The state has made Eagle Pass a movie set, literally a movie set,” said Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo. 

They are also sounding an alarm about the governor’s rhetoric, citing the El Paso Walmart shooting in 2019 that left 23 people dead. The shooter drove from North Texas and said online that his attack was a response to the “Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

“I am really concerned about what Greg Abbott is doing and it is very alarming that there are an increasing number of Republican governors who are essentially egging him on. They want him to keep pushing the envelope. They are on the verge of causing a constitutional crisis in our country,” said Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso.

Abbott’s office did not respond to requests for further comment. 

The Democrats also cite Monday’s arrest of a Tennessee militia member who allegedly planned to conduct acts of violence at the border. He allegedly told an undercover federal agent, “The patriots are going to rise up because we are being invaded.”

“It dehumanizes these immigrants, takes away their humanity, so that it inspires people or incites people to basically treat them like animals, and the effect of that is contained not only to the migrant community, but spills over to the Latino community and to others,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, told Spectrum News. 

Castro, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, has prioritized addressing Latino underrepresentation in different industries as well as highlighting the contributions of the community.  

“It's important that we talk about the contributions of Latino Americans, so we tell the history of Latino Americans in their contributions to this country, much of which is left out of the telling of American history in our schools,” Castro said. 

All this is occurring as a bipartisan Senate compromise on border security imploded this week. 

GOP lawmakers said the compromise did not do enough to crack down on illegal immigration, and that the president could take action without waiting for Congress to act.