Mexico fights back against Greg Abbott
Greg Abbott and other Trumplicans — especially Texans — have been demonizing Mexican immigrants for years, spewing racist lies and propaganda, claiming they’re responsible for terrorizing us with everything from theft and trespassing to rape and murder, and even scapegoating them for Covid — inciting hate to support slush funds and stealing money from taxpayers for a border wall that will never be completed and the majority, including Texans, don’t even support. Likewise, Mexican Americans have been under heavy attack by the GOP, plotting ways to target them in their assault on democracy, while Abbott ludicrously orders them pulled over on “suspicion” of being Covid-infested migrants, requiring the DOJ to file suit. GOP-packed courts have denied them promised citizenship. Ron DeathSantis is even scapegoating Mexico for Florida’s Covid surge. You’re overwhelmingly more likely to catch Covid from a MAGAt than a migrant.
Gun-crazy is also apparently contagious. Mexico has been suffering, thanks to our gun manufacturers, lax gun control, and gun trafficking across the border — over 2.5 million illicit American guns have fueled an explosion of homicides there. While Texas lawmakers effectively voided gun laws by enacting the no-permit-required, open-carry law (heavily opposed by Texas law enforcement), legal gun sales in Mexico are tightly restricted. Mexico has filed suit against several American gun manufacturers — not only seeking damages, but tighter sales control and better security features on weapons. They assert manufacturers know “their products are trafficked and used in illicit activities” in Mexico, yet “continue to prioritize their economic benefit, and use marketing strategies to promote weapons that are ever more lethal, without mechanisms of security or traceability.”
“If we don’t file suit” and win, “they’re going to continue … and we’re going to have deaths every day,” said Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign minister. Others say chances of winning are slim, but hope the suit will spur the Biden administration to pass legislation closing private-sale loopholes.
Now “every little gangster has AK-47’s or Barrett .50s,” said loan Grillo, author of “Blood Gun Money: How America Arms Gangs and Cartels.” Police have “kind of melted away. They’re not going to fight against guys with .50-calibers.”
Gun-crazy white supremacists are no doubt in on this racket. As a native Texan, I’m more scared of white strangers in pickups with red ‘gimme’ caps than I am of brown-skinned, Spanish-speaking strangers, and I’m pleased as punch that Mexico is our gun control ally. I’ve spent some memorable times in Mexico — a beautiful country, with crystal-clear Caribbean waters, and friendly, hard-working people. They deserve better neighbors.
