Texas Republicans Propose Granting Immunity To Vigilante Groups Hunting Migrants

Bigots in Texas might see all of their xenophobic dreams come true if the Republicans running the state get their way. There is currently a bill working its way through the statehouse that would not only allow for "vigilante" groups to hunt migrants along the Southern Border, but it would also give them immunity from prosecution. This is essentially a license to kill or maim, and you can bet Texas Republicans want to see this happen. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins discusses this legislation.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

There's a piece of legislation working its way through the Texas State House, introduced by a Republican state representative by the name of Dade Felan. That will create a new group within the state government that is led by a chief appointed by Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of the state of Texas. And this group will be made up of both law enforcement officials and civilian volunteers. And it will act as a migrant hunting unit in the state of Texas. So this group of actual law enforcement officers and civilian want to be vigilantes, will get to go around the state. They'll get to hunt for migrants, and that's the word used hunt for fellow human beings. And the kicker is under this legislation house bill 20, they would also be given immunity for anything they do to these people. So if they find a migrant, they're allowed to use under the legislation, non-lethal tactics. So they could find the person, they could beat 'em with a steel rod, you know, just rough 'em up. Not to the point where it kills 'em, you know, maybe no shots to the head, but couple quick body shots to the gut, right? To get 'em submissive. That's not lethal most of the time. You know, whack a knee cap or two, maybe shoot 'em in the foot, then handcuff 'em and send them back to wherever they came from. And they can't be prosecuted.

As I said, this legislation is still making its way through the, uh, through the state house, but this is the wet dream come true for bigoted gun toting Texans. This is what they've been waiting for, the opportunity to go down to the border and beat the hell outta whoever we see coming across it don't matter. And that's what they will do. And this legislation would make that legal. They would have immunity, they would have law enforcement there backing them up. They would have the governor's own chief in charge. So this goes all the way to the top of Texas government protecting these individuals, engaging in non-lethal force against people coming across the border, which let's not forget, folks illegally crossing the United States border from Mexico into the US is a misdemeanor. It's a misdemeanor. No different than a traffic offense.

Yes, obviously you, you can be detained, you can even be deported. But it's not a capital crime. It's not the kind of crime where we need to have vigilante groups out there knocking people in the kneecap with baseball bats. But that's what we could see along our southern border. This is bigotry, this is optics, this is political theater. This is all of those horrible things that the idiots in Texas have been doing for so long. And this is the culmination of all of it.