Far-right Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday unveiled a grim new billboard campaign that he hopes will encourage migrants to think twice before crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in his state.
Abbott has spent $100,000 on the conservative state’s latest attempt to deter illegal border crossings – this time in the form of a set of Spanish billboards translated into messages including: “How much did you pay to have your daughter raped? Many girls are raped by the coyotes you hire,” the San Antonio Current reported.
Another billboard featuring a young girl warns: “This fourteen-year-old girl was raped by more than 20 men on her way to the border. Protect your family. Change their fate.”
Abbott unveiled the initiative on Thursday at a ranch in the border town of Eagle Pass. He made remarks next to what he said were the burnt remains of a so-called “rape tree,” which he said smugglers set fire to after sexually assaulting migrants in a twisted memorial.
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“We want no more rape trees in Texas,” Abbott said while wagging his finger, according to the Current. An investigation in 2022 by news outlet Border Report found zero evidence that "rape trees" exist, the publication added.
Over 40 “strategically placed” billboards began being placed in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico and along the Texas-Mexico border, Abbott’s office said in a news release.
The governor called the billboard campaign’s stark messaging “a realistic picture” of what will happen to people illegally crossing the border.
“They implore those people in Central America to consider the violent, horrific realities of what will happen to the women and children they bring with them,” Abbott said in a news release. “Until President Donald Trump is back in the White House to secure our border once again, we will continue to take every step necessary to defend Texas.”
