As Republicans continue to wield immigration as a political cudgel, GOP lawmakers have painted the U.S.-Mexico border as a dangerous place and invoked racist language likening the influx of asylum seekers to an “invasion.” For example, when unveiling his Operation Lone Star border crackdown in June 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott claimed border crossers had unleashed “carnage” in South Texas and that “people are being threatened on a daily basis with guns.”