Latest news with #Abbott
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Video of Texas governor supporting deportation of Mexican flood volunteers is altered
"I support ICE deporting the Mexicans who helped during the floods. They didn't have authorization. I've confirmed it," Abbott appears to say at the start of a video shared July 12, 2025 to TikTok, where it amassed over 8 million views. Text stamped over the video reads: "Mexican rescuers arrested in flood." The clip -- which circulated across platforms including X, Facebook and Threads -- then flashes between stock imagery and visuals from Texas as a voiceover claims Mexican volunteers who crossed the border to help rescue flood victims were stopped by gun-wielding immigration agents and handcuffed. "They carried no weapons or drugs," the narrator says. "They came to help, but were treated liked criminals. Immigration agents aimed their guns at them, yelled that they had no authorization to be there, threw them to the ground and loaded them into a van as if they were criminals. It was all caught on video." The speaker later adds: "The most outrageous part was the reaction of the Texas governor. Instead of condemning what happened, he supported it. He said anyone who crosses the border without permission, even to save lives, must be detained." The video spread after more than 130 people, including at least 27 girls and counselors from a youth summer camp, were killed as catastrophic floods tore through Texas during the Fourth of July holiday. The rescue efforts have included firefighters and other first responders from Mexico who traveled to Texas after the flooding to help, according to the groups, the US ambassador in Mexico and media reports (archived here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Abbott, a staunch Republican ally of Donald Trump, has mobilized his state's resources toward supporting the US president's mass deportation policies -- and had stationed National Guard troops at a Texas border city even before Trump's election. But the clip, appearing to show the governor urging deportations for the Mexican teams aiding the flood victim search, is altered. The visual of Abbott was lifted from a July 8 press conference he held alongside other state officials, whose uniforms allowed AFP to match the footage (archived here and here). At no point during the 45-minute briefing did Abbott say he supported the deportation of Mexican rescuers. Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott's press secretary, confirmed in a July 14 email to AFP that the governor has never made such a comment. The voice-cloning detection tool within the Verification Plugin, also known as InVID-WeVerify, assessed that the TikTok video's audio was "likely AI-generated." Fundación 911, one of the groups lending assistance, posted to Facebook July 13 to dispel online rumors that US agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Patrol had arrested its personnel (archived here). "We want to clarify that Fundación 911 and the heroic fire department of the city of Acuña have not been arrested nor detained by ICE or CBP agents," the organization wrote. "The work we are doing is focused on supporting our community, and we regret that fake information is circulating." Some volunteers with another recovery team were unable to enter Texas as they awaited visas or humanitarian permits, according to reports (archived here). AFP has debunked other misinformation about the floods here, here and here.
AFP
14 hours ago
- Politics
- AFP
Video of Texas governor supporting deportation of Mexican flood volunteers is altered
"I support ICE deporting the Mexicans who helped during the floods. They didn't have authorization. I've confirmed it," Abbott appears to say at the start of a video shared July 12, 2025 to TikTok, where it amassed over 8 million views. Text stamped over the video reads: "Mexican rescuers arrested in flood." Image Screenshot of a TikTok post taken July 14, 2025 The clip -- which circulated across platforms including X, Facebook and Threads -- then flashes between stock imagery and visuals from Texas as a voiceover claims Mexican volunteers who crossed the border to help rescue flood victims were stopped by gun-wielding immigration agents and handcuffed. "They carried no weapons or drugs," the narrator says. "They came to help, but were treated liked criminals. Immigration agents aimed their guns at them, yelled that they had no authorization to be there, threw them to the ground and loaded them into a van as if they were criminals. It was all caught on video." The speaker later adds: "The most outrageous part was the reaction of the Texas governor. Instead of condemning what happened, he supported it. He said anyone who crosses the border without permission, even to save lives, must be detained." The video spread after more than 130 people, including at least 27 girls and counselors from a youth summer camp, were killed as catastrophic floods tore through Texas during the Fourth of July holiday. The rescue efforts have included firefighters and other first responders from Mexico who traveled to Texas after the flooding to help, according to the groups, the US ambassador in Mexico and media reports (archived here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Abbott, a staunch Republican ally of Donald Trump, has mobilized his state's resources toward supporting the US president's mass deportation policies -- and had stationed National Guard troops But the clip, appearing to show the governor urging deportations for the Mexican teams aiding the flood victim search, is altered. The visual of Abbott was lifted from a July 8 press conference he held alongside other state officials, whose uniforms allowed AFP to match the footage (archived here and here). At no point during the 45-minute briefing did Abbott say he supported the deportation of Mexican rescuers. Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott's press secretary, confirmed in a July 14 email to AFP that the governor has never made such a comment. The voice-cloning detection tool assessed that the TikTok video's audio was "likely AI-generated." Fundación 911, one of the groups lending assistance, posted to Facebook July 13 to dispel online rumors that US agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Patrol had arrested its personnel (archived here). "We want to clarify that Fundación 911 and the heroic fire department of the city of Acuña have not been arrested nor detained by ICE or CBP agents," the organization wrote. "The work we are doing is focused on supporting our community, and we regret that fake information is circulating." Some volunteers with another recovery team were unable to enter Texas as they awaited visas or humanitarian permits, according to reports (archived here). AFP has debunked other misinformation about the floods here, here and here.
The Hill
15 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Democrats bash Trump over Texas redistricting: ‘Act of desperation' to ‘cling to power'
House Democrats are hammering President Trump and his GOP allies for pushing to alter Texas's congressional lines ahead of the midterms, accusing the Republicans of rigging the system to stay in power. 'It's painfully clear why Republicans are doing this: They know they are going to lose the majority next year,' Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), the head of the House Democrats' campaign arm, told reporters Tuesday on Capitol Hill. 'Republicans know they can't win on their failed agenda, so they've hatched a scheme to rig the Texas map to try to save their microscopic majority.' In a rare mid-decade redistricting effort, Texas state lawmakers are expected to consider new congressional lines during a special session of the Texas legislature, which was called by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott. The effort to redraw the Texas map has come at the request of President Trump, who wants to pad the GOP's thin House majority to ensure that Republicans keep control of the lower chamber during his final two years of his second term. In a call to Texas Republicans on Tuesday morning, the president urged lawmakers to draw the districts in such a way that Republicans will be able to flip five Democratic seats to the GOP, according to Punchbowl News. Democrats have bashed the effort, noting that Texas is still reeling from the massive floods that hit the Hill Country region of the state on the July 4 weekend. The floods killed scores of people, including young girls attending a popular summer camp. Democrats say Republicans should be focused on efforts to recover from that crisis, and examine the possible causes, including recent cuts to the National Weather Service championed by Trump. 'Instead of addressing the serious crisis that has affected tens-of-thousands of lives in unthinkable ways, Donald Trump, House Republicans here in Washington and Gov. Abbott are conspiring to rig the Texas congressional map as part of an effort to disenfranchise millions of people in Texas,' House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said. 'In this country, public servants should earn the votes of the people that they hope to represent,' he added. 'What Republicans are trying to do in Texas is have politicians choose their voters.' Jeffries declined to say if he supports having blue states, like New York and California, pursue their own mid-district redistricting efforts to counter the efforts of Texas and North Carolina. He deferred to the governors of those states. But he also left the door open to that strategy, and suggested there might be developments on that front coming soon. 'Stay tuned,' Jeffries said. The justification for drawing the new lines has done little to appease the Democratic critics. In a recent letter to Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Trump's Justice Department said a new map was needed to remedy four existing districts it deems unconstitutional because they were drawn with racial considerations in mind. Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, urged state Republicans 'to rectify these race-based considerations.' Texas Democrats say Dhillon's reasoning is ludicrous, since state Republicans had drawn the existing map just four years ago. 'The absurdity of the justification for this redistricting is that a Republican-controlled legislature, led by President Trump's campaign manager in the Senate, signed by his loyal follower Gov. Abbott — that that Republican redistricting plan discriminated against white people in Texas,' Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas.) said. 'Not a big problem that we've ever had down there in my lifetime.' Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), said Texas has a long history of pushing discriminatory policies in order to undermine the power of minorities, even as they represent a majority of the population. The new redistricting effort, she said, is just the latest iteration of that campaign. 'They are specifically deciding to splinter the communities of common interest as well as just blatantly say: We're going to dilute the minority voices,' Crockett said. It's not the first time in recent years that Republicans have leveraged power on the state level to tilt the congressional map in their favor, even when it disenfranchised millions of voters. In 2022, Republicans who controlled North Carolina's state house adopted new districts all but ensuring the GOP would pick up seats in Congress. The map was shot down by the state Supreme Court when it was controlled by Democrats. But after Republicans took power on the court, they reversed the earlier decision and allowed the map to take effect. As a result, Republicans picked up three Democratic seats in the 2024 elections, swinging an evenly divided delegation — featuring seven Republicans and seven Democrats — sharply in the favor of Republicans, who now hold a 10-4 advantage in a state where party affiliation is roughly split. 'They know that we would be in the majority today if North Carolina hadn't egregiously redistricted and eliminated three Democratic seats,' said Rep. Katherine Clark (Mass.), the Democratic whip. 'This is a voter suppression effort,' she added. 'This is an effort to take away voices when Texans need the help of fellow Americans.' DelBene warned that the Republicans' redistricting might backfire on the GOP, diluting the comfortable advantage of some Republican incumbents to the advantage of Democrats hoping to pick those seats up. 'Republicans should be careful what they wish for,' she said. Jeffries seconded that warning. 'I have no expectation that they're going to show any political courage. Texas Republicans are likely to continue to act like political punks and bend the knee to Donald Trump's extreme agenda,' he said. 'In doing so, they will jeopardize their own electoral careers.'
The Hill
16 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump says he wants Texas GOP to pick up five seats in redistricting
President Trump said he hopes Texas Republicans will pick up five seats in the House from a redistricting plan they hope to enact in a special legislative session later this month. Trump told reporters that it's 'OK' if other Democratic-leaning states like California or New York also seek to redraw their congressional district lines to try to increase the number of Democratic-held seats. But he said a 'very simple redrawing' could yield five additional seats for the GOP in the Lone Star State. 'I think we'll get five,' Trump said. 'And there could be some other states we're going to get another three, or four or five in addition. Texas would be the biggest one.' His comments come after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced last week that redistricting would be included in the upcoming special legislative session. Abbott said the session would address legislation providing 'a revised congressional redistricting plan in light of constitutional concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice.' States traditionally update their district lines once every 10 years, as provided for in the Constitution, but reporting has indicated that Trump's team has been pushing Texas to redistrict earlier as the GOP tries to defend a narrow majority in the House. Historical trends that often see the president's party lose seats in congressional midterm elections are another obstacle for the party. Democrats have slammed the move, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) accusing Abbott of 'conspiring' with Trump and the House Republicans to 'try to rig the election and disenfranchise millions of voters.' In response to Abbott's plans, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has warned that he would move for the state to take similar action to add likely Democratic-held seats if Texas moves forward with its plan.
NBC News
16 hours ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Transgender bathroom bill added to Texas flood-relief special session
Texas lawmakers will convene next week for a special session to consider legislation addressing the deadly floods that devastated parts of the state earlier this month — and a bill regarding which restrooms transgender Texans can use. When Gov. Greg Abbott initially called for a special session in June, it was to tackle six bills he had vetoed during the regular session, among them a contentious measure that would have banned hemp products containing THC. But after flash floods overwhelmed parts of central Texas on July 4 — resulting in at least 120 deaths with many more still missing — the intended focus shifted to flood relief. However, when the governor's 18-point agenda was released last week, it included far more than flood-related measures. In addition to considering bills that would restrict hemp products, Abbott has also asked lawmakers to consider legislation 'further protecting unborn children and their mothers from the harm of abortion' and legislation 'protecting women's privacy in sex-segregated spaces.' On Monday, the first day lawmakers were able to file bills for the special session, none of the 82 measures filed mentioned the deadly July 4 floods, according to KXAN-TV, NBC's Austin affiliate. Republican state Rep. Valoree Swanson introduced the so-called bathroom bill, which would require transgender people to use bathrooms that correspond to their birth sex in public schools, government buildings and correctional facilities. If House Bill 32, known as the Texas Women's Privacy Act, becomes law, public entities that violate the measure could face financial penalties and be subject to civil lawsuits. Currently, 19 states across the country restrict which bathrooms and other sex-segregated facilities transgender people can use, according to Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank.
