HOUSTON — A Houston civil rights organization is criticizing Governor Abbott’s comments about the suspects involved in a deadly watercraft crash that happened in North Texas.
Daikerlyn Alejandra Gonzalez Gonzalez and Maikel Coello Perozo have been arrested in connection with the hit-and-run crash that killed 18-year-old Ava Moore. After learning that the two suspects were living in the U.S. illegally, Governor Abbott posted on X, saying “Welcome to Texas. Here is your death penalty.”
The executive director of FIEL Houston called Gov. Abbott’s post irresponsible. Below is the full statement from Cesar Espinosa, FIEL’s executive director.
“First and foremost, our condolences go out to the Moore family as they have to deal with this insurmountable tragedy. This should have never happened and those responsible for the accident, as well as the subsequent actions they prompted, should face the law. What we condemn is the Governor politicizing this and automatically bringing up the immigration status of the perpetrator as the front facing issue. Also, the context in which Abbott spoke about this can be left very open to interpretation. Calling publicly for the death penalty and in such an irresponsible manner, we fear it could lead people to act on their own recourse. We want to remind our fellow Texans are hard working people who live their lives down the straight and narrow path. We must not call victim to the propaganda and make generalizations about immigrants. Words matter and far too often Abbott uses words in a careless manner.”