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A new report about local and state authorities' failed response to the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in May shows how right-wing fearmongering over undocumented immigrants inhibited the response to the shooting.
The preliminary report, released by a Texas House of Representatives committee over the weekend, focused heavily on the leadership vacuum that occurred on the scene as law enforcement officials were reluctant to engage the shooter. The report also detailed other missteps, including school officials’ failure to keep some doors locked as a security measure (conservatives have been laser-focused on door safety in an effort to distract the public from discussing gun-safety measures).
But the report also found that Uvalde school district officials, presumably including police, frequently used a school lockdown alert system for police chases involving migrants — none of which have ever resulted in school violence. This appears to have led to a “Boy Who Cried Wolf”-type scenario on the day of the shooting.
According to The Texas Tribune:
Uvalde is about 50 miles east of the border with Mexico and sits at the intersection of major highways from the border cities of Del Rio and Eagle Pass. Police described a recent increase in “bailouts,” when officers chase a vehicle containing suspected undocumented migrants, who then purposely crash and scatter to avoid apprehension. School district officials told the committee there had been 47 “secure” or “lockdown” events since February 2022. Around 90% of those had been because of bailouts.
The report said parents previously expressed concern over an increase in bailout activity near the local elementary schools, as such incidents sometimes involved firearms in surrounding neighborhoods. But it’s important to reiterate that there's never been bailout-related violence on Uvalde school grounds.
“The series of bailout-related alerts led teachers and administrators to respond to all alerts with less urgency — when they heard the sound of an alert, many assumed that it was another bailout,” according to the Texas House report.
In other words: Uvalde school district officials diluted the power of their alerts by using them to fearmonger over migrants. It’s just one glaring example showing the downstream effects of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy, which Texas Republicans have prioritized over the last year.
About two weeks ago, I wrote about Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and his fellow conservatives referring to migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as “invaders” — an effort to trigger war powers and treat them as enemy combatants. This could break federal law — but bloodthirsty conservatives don't care.
We’ve also seen Texas Gov. Greg Abbott institute a host of cruel and rather fruitless policies meant to demonize migrants looking to enter the United States. But Uvalde reminds us that the true threat to Texans isn’t migrants seeking refuge, no matter what Republicans suggest.
And it shows that Republicans are failing the public in tragic ways by obsessing over purported dangers posed by migrants when the reality of gun violence stares them in the face.