Texas Governor slammed for claiming that South Africans carrying Omicron variant are illegally entering US southern border

TEXAS Governor Greg Abbott talks to reporters outside the White House in Washington in this file picture. AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

TEXAS Governor Greg Abbott talks to reporters outside the White House in Washington in this file picture. AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

Published Nov 29, 2021

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DURBAN – The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott in the US, has been roasted on Twitter after falsely claiming that South Africans carrying the new Omicron variant have been apprehended crossing the into the US illegally.

Abbott, a Republican who has run for office on an anti-immigration ticket blamed US President, Joe Biden for “doing nothing” from stopping immigrants from South Africa crossing into the US illegally.

While many people were quick to point out the the two country’s were separated by on Ocean and were 12 000km apart, Abbott refused to delete his Tweet.

Many on Twitter mused at the thought that Abbott may have confusing the US southern border with Mexico to South Africa.

Abbott’s Tweet comes amid anger from South Africa and the African continent over the fact many developed nations including the US, the UK and EU member countries moved quickly to shut their border to southern Africa countries after South African scientists discovered a new variant of the Covid-19 virus that has since been named Omicron.

Many feel that South Africa is being unfairly punished for its transparency and advanced capacity for detecting viruses.

The discovery of the new variant has added fuel to the fire of right-wing conspiracy theorists like Abbott.

Last night, President Cyril Ramaphosa slammed the prohibition of travel into South Africa from some countries saying“ “These restrictions are unjustified and unfairly discriminate against our country and our Southern African sister countries … the prohibition of travel will not be effective in preventing the spread of this variant“.

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