Indian Americans, fellow Republicans react sharply to Bo French’s post targeting 'foreigner' students in Texas
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Indian Americans, fellow Republicans react sharply to Bo French’s post targeting 'foreigner' students in Texas")
Bo French, and the offending picture in his X post, are shown here Photograph: (Others)
Texas Republican Bo French faced backlash from both his party leaders and Indian and South Asian Americans over a post targeting ‘foreigner’ students at the University of Texas. Here is what happened
A Republican politician's social media post appearing to target Indian and South Asian students in Texas has caused a firestorm of criticism over alleged racism. Bo French, the Republican nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner, on Sunday (Sep 13) posted a photo of University of Texas students celebrating a sports victory, with a caption that appeared provocative to some people. The photo mostly showed non-white students celebrating the Longhorns’ win over Ohio State the previous night.
What Bo French said in his now-controversial post
“I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined,” French wrote in the post along with the photo. Referring to the celebration in the stands, French also remarked that it showed “how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners”.
“I weep for the families in Texas who can’t get into UT because they prioritise foreigners over Texans,” he added.
Texas institutions, he claimed, were “overrun by illegal aliens and foreign nationals”.
Why is Bo French’s post being criticised, and that too by fellow Republicans?
Media reports said the students in the photo appeared to be of South Asian or Indian descent. Texas has a large Asian American population of around 1.9 million, including more than 450,000 Indian Americans. Texas residents make up 80.5 per cent of the University of Texas at Austin’s student community, while international students account for less than 10 per cent. For automatic admissions to public universities, Texas law mandates that eligible Texas high school graduates be prioritised under the state’s top-performer admissions system.
Interestingly, it was fellow Republicans who came out to criticise the message in French’s post.
Senator John Cornyn said: “This is the Republican nominee for statewide office. Are other Republican elected officials going to condemn the intolerance and racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalised. This is how great political parties self-destruct. Sad.”
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Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is also a Republican, distanced himself from French, saying: “That is not my message.”
He said the picture of Longhorn fans actually showed a way that Texans unite. “We all support our college football teams,” he said.
At the same time, Abbott added that unity does not prevent Texas from having some of the toughest immigration laws and called for “freezing H1B visas at our universities”.
State Representative Lacey Hull, also a Republican, urged the deletion of the post, saying: “This post breaks my heart. I see college kids cheering on their football team. I see Texans.”
Calling the post “racist”, State Representative Jared Patterson said: “There is absolutely nothing Christian or conservative about looking at a crowd of young Texans at a college football game, seeing the color of their skin, and declaring that they are a ‘problem.’ These are 20-year-old kids cheering for their university — not political props and not targets for racial attacks.”
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said: “You can oppose immigration policy without demeaning people because of their race or ethnicity — this post has crossed the line.”
State Representative Jeff Leach posted a photo of his son with ethnically diverse classmates at the game, calling French’s view racist.
Indian American groups react sharply
The Indian American Advocacy Council unequivocally condemned Bo French’s “disgusting racist attack on brown students” at the University of Texas.
“He looked at a photograph of brown students cheering for their university and immediately decided they were ‘foreigners’. That is racism,” the group said.
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) also called for elected leaders to condemn the rhetoric, noting concerns over anti-Indian and anti-Hindu hatred.
French has a history of controversial posts
French stuck to his guns, calling his critics RINOs, or “Republicans in Name Only”, and “America Last” figures, in contrast to President Donald Trump’s “America First” messaging. He did not delete the offending post.
French, whose full name is Richard West “Bo” French, has a history of controversial posts. In the past, he has posted remarks targeting Muslims and Native Americans.
French comes from a long-established Texas oil family.
He is seeking the Republican nomination for Texas Railroad Commissioner, a statewide elected office that oversees the state’s oil and gas industry.
