What no Republican is telling anyone is that the baby formula shortage came after the Food and Drug Administration found bacteria in baby formula. Two infants died, and batches from that manufacturer, ironically also named Abbott, were recalled. (Abbott denies any link between the bacteria found in its facility and the bacteria that killed the two infants.) Also, thanks to then-President Donald Trump, there is now a high tax on foreign baby formula, making it more expensive to import. The federal government does not manufacture or distribute baby formula, so it’s unclear why the Governor of Texas thinks the Biden administration made a decision to send baby formula to a detention center in McCallen Texas, but not to, say, Costco, or a local grocery store. The federal government bought baby formula because it had to.
As many on social media noted, the obvious conclusion is that Governor Abbott wants to take formula from immigrant detention centers and starve the children there.
Just monstrous and deeply, deeply immoral.
— Dan Lavoie (@djlavoie) May 12, 2022
Saying it’s okay to starve children as long as they’re immigrants is a strange way of showing one’s Christian values.
— Ian (@IanMCohen) May 12, 2022
Abbott supports letting babies starve. There is no other interpretation. https://t.co/GJ54Um7qfm
— Grace Lidia Suárez (@gracels) May 12, 2022