Gov. Greg Abbott embraces “invasion” language about border, evoking memories of El Paso massacre

Gov. Greg Abbott, left and House Speaker Dade Phelan give updates on their plan for Texas to build its own border wall at a press conference at the Texas Capitol in 2021. Abbott has increasingly used the word “invasion” to describe migrants entering at the U.S.-Mexico border. (Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune)

To many Hispanic and Latino Texans, the word “invasion” brings a particular horror to mind. It’s the same word the gunman in El Paso invoked in 2019 in a hate-filled manifesto about immigration — posted just before he killed 23 people.

To many hardline conservatives in the state, the word is at the heart of a legal theory they’ve embraced — one legal scholars say simply isn’t true. If the governor were to declare that Texas is under invasion due to open borders, the conservatives claim, he could deport migrants without the federal government.