Gov. Greg Abbott has unveiled a billboard campaign meant to dissuade illegal aliens from crossing into Texas.
At a press conference in Eagle Pass on Thursday, Abbott revealed that over 40 billboards have been placed in strategic locations across Central America, Mexico, and parts of the Texas-Mexico border.
Billboards placed in Mexico are in Spanish and display short warning messages like “Danger Ahead. If you cross into Texas illegally, you will regret it forever.” Another reads “Final warning. If you cross the border illegally, you will be prosecuted and incarcerated.”
The messages on billboards in Central America highlight the dangers women and children may face if sent across the border, including rape and kidnappings perpetrated by smugglers, often called coyotes.
Abbott brought attention to rampant sexual assaults on the Texas border. He pointed to a burned-down rape tree—a spot used by coyotes to show where a woman has been sexually assaulted. The trees are typically covered in the victims’ undergarments.
“Your wife and daughter will pay for the trip with their bodies. Coyotes lie. Don’t put your family at risk,” one billboard in Central America reads.
“[The billboards] give potential illegal immigrants thinking of leaving their home country – and those already on the way – a realistic picture of what will happen to them on their journey or if they illegally cross into Texas,” Abbott said. “These billboards tell the horror stories of human trafficking. 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.”
Nearly all billboards are in Spanish, though some on the Texas-Mexico border display warnings in Russian, Chinese, and Arabic.
After the press conference, Wade Miller, executive director of the Center for Renewing America, felt the announcement was a let down.
Abbott’s big border security press conference is about putting billboard signs up in Central and South America?
That’s what all of this build up was for to announce?
Unserious. pic.twitter.com/O4PtLutcTL
— Wade Miller (@WadeMiller_USMC) December 20, 2024
“This new effort is about stopping their journey from even beginning in the first place,” said Abbott. “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.”
