Texas Governor Greg Abbott has blamed President and his immigration policies for the deaths of in sweltering Texas heat.
Hours after the horrific discovery was made in San Antonio, Abbot placed the blame on Biden.
‘These deaths are on Biden,’ Abbott wrote in a . ‘They are a result of his deadly open border policies. They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law.’
Abbott was joined by other Texas Republicans in criticizing Biden’s immigration policies in wake of the tragedy, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who called the incident ‘horrific.’
‘How many more people have to die before Dems give a damn?’ Cruz .
State Representative Tony Gonzalez also vented his frustrations in a .
‘Today in San Antonio it was 102 degrees. Imagine being abandoned inside an 18-wheeler left to die – 42 people died today – will @AliMayorkas even mention their names?’ he wrote, referencing US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
Secretary Mayorkas also responded to the incident online, adding that ICE is investigating. He called human smugglers ‘callous individuals who have no regard for the vulnerable people they exploit and endanger in order to make a profit.’
San Antonio’s Mayor, Ron Nirenberg, who is an Independent, called the incident ‘nothing short of a horrific human tragedy.’
‘The plight of migrants seeking refuge is always a humanitarian crisis but tonight we are dealing with a horrific human tragedy,’ the mayor said during a news conference near where the tractor-trailer was found.
A city worker had heard a cry for help from the truck just before 6pm Monday and came across the gruesome scene, Police Chief William McManus said.
Sixteen people, including four children, found alive inside the abandoned 18-wheeler were rushed to an area hospital and treated for heat-related illnesses.
Temperatures in San Antonio, a major city in southern Texas, had reached a high of 103F (39.4C) on Monday amid an ongoing heatwave.
On Tuesday morning, the death toll had risen from 46 to 50, according to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Of the dead, 22 were Mexican nationals, seven were from Guatemala and two were from Honduras. The home countries of the remaining 19 people has yet to be confirmed.
Three people were taken into custody, the San Antonio police chief said. Their identities have not been revealed, and it’s unclear what kind of involvement they may have had in the incident.
The survivors found inside the abandoned truck lacked water and air conditioning, despite the truck being a refrigerated vehicle, its air conditioning function appeared to not be working.
The temperature inside the packed trailer was likely much higher than the outside temperature, which sat in the 100s for most of the day.
The tragedy comes as the number of migrants apprehended at the southern US border has reached recording-breaking highs in recent months.
According to US Customs and Border Protection data, authorities have encountered over 1million migrants at the southern border since January, which is over six times the number in 2020 and over double the cases in 2019.
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