Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has told a right-wing radio host that there’s only one tool the state isn’t using to stop migrants from crossing the border into Texas: gun violence, because it would prompt a response from the pesky federal government.

“The only thing that we are not doing is we’re not shooting people who come across the border—because, of course, the Biden administration would charge us with murder,” the Republican governor told former NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch on her radio show last week.

  • Sharpiemarker@startrek.website
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    10 months ago

    Biden isn’t a law enforcement official. He’s not a DA. He’s not a police officer. He doesn’t have the ability to have you arrested. I suspect Abbott knows this, but his constituents are too fucking stupid to understand the difference.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Biden is human though, which apparently disqualifies him from the Republican Party

      • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        in a “citizens arrest”, sure. But he physically himself cannot perform police functions. If he orders an arrest and the arrest is illegal then that person would be acquitted.

            • Kairos@lemmy.today
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              10 months ago

              The US constitution? The President can do really anything they want within the law. There’s no really reason The President can’t arrest people.

              • prole@sh.itjust.works
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                10 months ago

                The President can do really anything they want within the law. There’s

                No they can’t. And arresting people is simply not in their purview.

          • Empricorn@feddit.nl
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            10 months ago

            You’re asking for evidence of something that doesn’t exist. If I’m wrong, point to the laws and rules that say I can’t tell you that.

          • prole@sh.itjust.works
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            10 months ago

            I’m sorry, do you think we need a law that says the President can’t personally arrest people?

            Yikes… Read a book.

              • prole@sh.itjust.works
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                10 months ago

                You can make it anything if you got to your profile settings. Upper right hand corner if your lemmy instance’s home page usually.

          • Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            For folk in the States it’s a mix of the 4th, 5th and 14th Amendments of the Constitution with mostly individual state laws determining the validity of what constitutes an officer of the law and how a citizen arrest works as part of that individual State’s Criminal code.

            If you’re Canadian it’s federal law 494 of the Criminal Code.

            To be honest it’s really bloody difficult trying to accurately cite US law in discussion because States have a frankly ridiculous amount of binding power on their citizens which means there are 50+ laws about how exactly citizen versus peace officer arrest is handled… But most of them outline fairly specific limitations like it whether a citizen’s arrest can be applicable for misdemeanors, restrictions on what constitutes a reasonable use of force, rights of an arrested person, what constitutes a humane restriction of person and the requirement of validating the arrest with a judge within a certain time period… You know Haebeous Corpus and all that.

            Biden’s Presidential powers probably give him a lot of extra leeway against laws that would persecute him for doing an improper citizen’s arrest but that wouldn’t make an improper arrest stick any more than if you did it. A President is still legally a citizen and not a law enforcement officer.

    • chaogomu@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      On the other hand, if Abbot did indeed order his people to start murdering migrants, you know that the decision to move forward with prosecution would need at least a half nod from Biden. At least on the federal level.

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          10 months ago

          The Judiciary doesn’t decide prosecution, the Attorney General does.

          In this case, that would be Merrick Garland, who was appointed by Biden, and serves on Biden’s Cabinet.

          Do remember that the President of the United States is the head of the Executive Branch, of which the Department of Justice is a part. This is basic High School civics stuff.

          • Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            The AG acts independently of the president. This issue will never land on the president’s desk. The only recourse he has is to fire the AG if he does (not) prosecute. If he does that he should be impeached.

            • chaogomu@kbin.social
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              10 months ago

              That “independence” is mostly a fiction.

              It’s not actually enforced by any law.

      • Wermhatswormhat@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Yeah because it’s federal policy not to just shoot somebody that crossed the border. Put the fucking politics aside for a second, this guy said the only reason we don’t kill them is because it’s against federal law. Yeah no shit.

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          10 months ago

          It’s not the reason sane people don’t start murdering, but it is the reason Abbott hasn’t.

          Says more about Abbott than it does the rest of us.

          But no, the point was that arresting a sitting governor would be a massive political move, and the AG would likely run that by his boss (the president) before doing it. But I get the feeling he would still do it regardless, and that Biden would okay it regardless.

  • TechyDad@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    “I’d totally murder people, but that evil federal government would lock me up for murder? Can you believe the audacity?!!! I really want to murder these people, but they won’t let me. Total government overreach! Whatever happened to states’ rights?”

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    10 months ago

    Just when I think Texas can’t be any more of an embarrassment than it already is a Texas Republican opens their mouth again.

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      10 months ago

      Only if they’re not Christian, American-born, white, and right-leaning - other than that, the Bible states it’s “open season”. /s, just in case

      Edit: I can’t tell my left hand from my right hand. They’re hands, please pardon me for my confusion.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Plus darker skin don’t count. Everyone in the Bible is pure white so those with darker skin aren’t saved

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        10 months ago

        Christians seem to be mostly all about leaning hard right these days (in spite of the teachings of the new testament) why would they want to protect left leaning people? Typo?

    • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Isn’t there something in the Bible about not murdering?

      They must be working to toss that rule in with the “wearing mixed fabrics in one garment” garbage bin.

    • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      In fairness, despite the Bible saying murder is wrong, there’s also a shitload of passages saying it’s right. It’s not really a piece of literature that makes a great deal of sense.

    • El Barto@lemmy.world
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      Texas does not represent the whole country.

      Edit: Downvoted by people who have never been to the States.

        • El Barto@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Tennessee, Oklahoma, Utah, Arizona, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota. 13 states out of 50.

          • rdyoung@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            All of those (some more than others) have large blue pockets of sane people and the maggats are in the outskirts. The only reason the maggats have control is thanks to gerry mandering and scaring the more gullible.

            Also get NC off that list. It’s a bright purple state. Anyone who thinks that the NC is the same as Texas or even Tennessee has never been to Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Durham, etc. I say this is a born and ashamed Floridian but have been in NC for awhile now.

            • El Barto@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              It’s forbidden for them to leave rhe Union. Good luck to them trying to do it a second time.

      • rdyoung@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Have an upvote. To expand on this, all of Texas doesn’t represent Texas or the USA. There is a non zero chance of Texas flipping blue in the next decade or so.

      • qarbone@lemmy.world
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        It’s really fun to be on the Internet and watch disconnected twats talk down to Americans about the problems we’ve been dreading for decades.

        Ye, I’ve noticed the casual erosion of decency in my country like a sinkhole spreading from the south. It’s hard to miss and harder to fix.

  • sik0fewl@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    I thought the Bible was the only thing keeping Texans from killing people, but apparently it’s Joe Biden.

    • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      From now on this is going to be my response if a Christian asks me what’s preventing my atheist self from doing all the murdering I want.

      “That pesky Joe Biden.”

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    10 months ago

    I’d shoot Abbott if I could, but it’s immoral, and I’d get charged with murder, so I won’t.

    Is that how that goes? We can say that as long as we admit we won’t do it because of the repercussions? Oh wait, this racist white racist trash is just pissed at the repercussions and not the immorality of the act. Fuck this peg leg piece of shit.

  • breadsmasher@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Imagine if mexico started mowing down americans travelling across the border. Or canada shooting americans at the border

    • ImTryingLemmy@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Or Coloradans shooting Texans at the Oklahoma border.

      That little panhandle that Texas had to cede in order to join the union as a slave state could be the DMZ.

      A boy can dream, I suppose.

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    10 months ago

    These people will literally apply the death penalty for jaywalkers as long as the jaywalker is "them* (i.e. non white l, male, or just someone they slightly disagree with) and then scream online about how theyre protected from censorship by the first amendment.