Troy Nehls calls the remarks not so pleasant and pivots to border policy
United States representative speaking to reporters
“I don’t really know the guy. I heard he said some not so pleasant things. … I am concerned about the number of people living in this country, and we don’t even know who they really are. Shut the border down for 10 years, and then let’s try to figure out who we got in this country because we don’t even know.”
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Politico report timestamped 5:00 AM ET on September 15, 2026. It states that no Republican explicitly called for French to drop out, that Dan Patrick did not respond to a request for comment, and that two students in the photo told the Dallas Morning News they are US citizens.
Before the quotation
Nehls told Politico he had not seen the posts. The exchange came as Texas Republicans were weighing how to respond.
After the quotation
The ellipsis marks intervening narration by the reporters between two parts of the quotation.
How this statement is classified
Case context: Was Bo French’s UT Austin post racist?
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
The conduct under scrutiny is French's post. Nehls neither condemns nor defends it, saying only that he heard unpleasant things were said before moving to an immigration argument. Politico groups him with Republicans less willing to fully denounce the comments.
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Was Bo French’s UT Austin post racist?
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full case“We all make mistakes but what does he do? No takedown of offensive post, no apology. Just doubles down and raises $ using it. The Republican Party is better than this. We should all condemn this bigotry directed at our fellow Texans or we will soon find ourselves a minority party.”Read statement
“Look, it was an idiotic tweet that he sent. I wish he hadn't sent it. And I got to say, I am celebrating every student at UT, and I was proud to be there in Austin, and it was a hell of a win. Hook 'em horns.”Read statement
“Everyone was talking about it. Every single Asian American that I was with yesterday raised this with me. They were saying this is an example of, ‘Not only are they not courting us or engaging with us, but they’re actively demonizing us, actively being xenophobic and racist towards us.’ We need leaders that stand up against this.”Read statement