Greg Abbott: Texas governor gets backlash over claims about South African ‘illegal immigrants’

Was anyone courteous enough to point South Africa on the world map for Texas governor Greg Abbott?

By / / Viral
greg abbott

Texas Governor Greg Abbott drew ire on social media for a number of reasons, including the fact that he doesn’t seem to know that there is a clear distinction between South Africa, the sovereign nation, and the south of Africa, a region part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Gregg Abbott refers to SA travellers as ‘illegal immigrants’

For linguistic geeks, Abbott’s failure to use grammar correctly may have sent waves of irritation down many spines but nothing was more triggering than the Texas Governor’s claim that South Africans have been trying to enter the US illegally.

In a statement, the governor claimed that more than “50 illegal immigrants from South Africa and other South African countries under the Biden travel ban have been apprehended by CBP this year, with 18 being apprehended this month alone.”

According to Abbott, Biden’s poor travel ban and customs policies were allegedly manipulated by South Africans who were caught attempting to enter the US via the southern border.

“Until President Biden stops the hypocrisy and does his job, Texas will continue stepping up to secure the border and protect Texas,” he said.

Suffice it to say, considering the mammoth distance between South Africa and the southern border of the US which, in case you were interested to know, was eerily connected to South America, Abbott left tweeps confused, to say the least.

Here is how social media reacted to the wild statement made by Abbott:

As far as travel bans go, the US has implemented a no-access policy for South African travellers due to the spread of the Omicron variant. No evidence exists of the claims made by Texas’ governor.