Texas Student Section Photos Enrage Americans Tired of Immigration, and There's Nothing Wrong With That
On Saturday in Austin, No. 4 Texas stunned the then-top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes 24-23 after trailing by three possessions to begin the fourth quarter.
By Sunday morning, the outcome of the game was almost an afterthought online.
A photo of Texas students celebrating the Longhorns’ improbable comeback win spread across X after the Republican nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner flagged the number of apparent foreign nationals in the student section and complained.
Bo French wrote, “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”
I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined. pic.twitter.com/Ys1bql0y4U
— Bo French (@bofrench) September 13, 2026
French was called “racist” by fellow Texas Republicans, including Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, while several other leading Republicans and Democrats attacked him:
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 normalized. This is how great political parties self-destruct. Sad. https://t.co/TO1dTXKd6G
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) September 13, 2026
Aren’t you the guy who used Navy SEAL Chris Kyle’s death to make yourself a bunch of money? Didn’t his widow have to sue you to get you to stop?
Or was that a bunch of foreigners from UT who screwed over the widow of American Sniper? https://t.co/5f9X3y7ZAz
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) September 13, 2026
Please delete this. This post breaks my heart. I see college kids cheering on their football team. I see Texans. https://t.co/GHtj13LCoR
— Lacey Hull (@LaceyHullTx) September 13, 2026
Both Cornyn and Crenshaw share something other than the fact that they are Lone Star State Republicans who spent their careers being labeled as RINOs.
They were each thrown out of office in their primaries this year by Texas voters who have had enough of their brand of self-righteous surrender to the left on immigration and other issues.
Does a student section packed with people who look like they just arrived from Mumbai mean the state and country have been completely taken over by people not born in the United States?
No, it does not, and the image ignores the fact that Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium was filled with people of all backgrounds on Saturday night.
But French’s photo, and the viral video it was taken from, are symbolic of what so many people who want to support the GOP are so upset about.
THAT’LL DO IT 🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/srkIUJR7ZA
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) September 13, 2026
People struggling for tech work who routinely can’t find a phone representative who speaks English as a first language saw a flagship American ritual — college football at its best — and they no longer recognized the people in the crowd.
After decades of endless immigration and visa overuse, the supposedly racist reaction should have been predictable.
Some of those students may be U.S. citizens. Others may be visa holders whose tuition cash the university is eager to take, and they probably all contribute to the economy.
Most of those shown are probably kind people. They sure seemed to have taken a liking to football, which looks like assimilation, if you ask me.
But that all misses the point.
Obviously, rational people with no malice in their hearts are not out to attack dark-haired kids in burnt orange with year-round tans for the sake of being cruel.
The real complaint for most people is not that the faces in the crowd did or did not belong at a football game.
It is that immigration, both illegal and legal, has been out of control for years, and no one ever asks Americans how they feel about having to welcome neighbors with whom they share no common culture.
Many Americans tuned in for a marquee game Saturday night to forget, at least in part, that there are so many people bogging down American resources that the cost of living is historically high.
At the end of the game, many were reminded that not only have their jobs gone overseas, but we have collectively and simultaneously imported so many people from faraway lands over the years that we are all feeling the strain.
The brand of conservatism that cannot stop getting itself thrown out of office is lazily dismissing a longing for cultural homogeneity, affordability, and opportunity for American citizens as “racist.”
But no matter what these people say, it is perfectly okay for Americans to want their country to remain American, and Cornyn is free to call all of us racist as a private citizen as he prepares for his retirement.
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