Leader of anti-immigration group Texans for Strong Borders also runs anonymous, hate-filled social media accounts
Source: Texas Tribune
Leader of anti-immigration group Texans for Strong Borders also runs anonymous, hate-filled social media accounts
Chris Russo has anonymously aligned himself with Nick Fuentes’ white supremacist movement on various social media platforms under the username “Optics Respecter.”
BY ROBERT DOWNEN
OCT. 25, 2023
1 PM CENTRAL
A prominent, anonymous figure in Nick Fuentes’ white supremacist movement is also the leader of Texans For Strong Borders, a well-connected group that has recently emerged as an influential voice in the Texas GOP and pushed lawmakers to crack down on legal and illegal immigration.
Since at least 2019, Texans For Strong Borders founder and president Chris Russo has operated in Fuentes’ racist movement on various social media platforms under the username “Optics Respecter.” Without sharing his real identity, Russo used the accounts to rail against immigration, feminists, the LGBTQ+ community and Black people, as well as share posts by other Fuentes followers that contain racial and homophobic slurs.
Russo’s close ties to Fuentes, an avowed admirer of Adolf Hitler and misogynist who has encouraged his followers to beat women, were confirmed by two people who know Russo but spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of reprisal by Fuentes’ followers. In a Dec. 23, 2019 post, Optics Respecter also wrote that they were turning “30 in a week and a half.” Russo’s birthday is Jan. 2, 1990, according to his Facebook.
On Wednesday, Amanda Moore, an independent journalist who spent more than a year undercover in far-right circles, also published audio of an earlier social media discussion featuring Fuentes and the Optics Respecter account. The voice appears to match Russo’s voice.
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Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/25/chris-russo-texans-for-strong-borders-immigration-nick-fuentes/
Alternate link: https://news.yahoo.com/leader-anti-immigration-group-texans-184831063.html
