Texas butterfly sanctuary shutting after immigration-linked threats from Trump backers

A butterfly sanctuary caught in the crossfire of polarizing conspiracy theories on illegal immigration to the United States says it’s shutting its doors Thursday due to security concerns after threats from supporters of former president Donald Trump.

The National Butterfly Center in Texas, located on the banks of the Rio Grande that separates the United States from Mexico, had filed a complaint to block construction of the border wall that became a centerpiece of Trump’s presidency, saying it threatened the winged insects’ habitat.

The private sanctuary’s gardens are home to more than 200 species of butterfly as well as bobcats, coyotes, peccaries, armadillos and Texas tortoises.

But it will now be closed until further notice because “the safety of our staff and visitors is our primary concern,” Jeffrey Glassberg, president of the North American Butterfly Association, which runs the organization, said in a statement Wednesday.

Conspiracy theories linked by U.S. media to the far-right group QAnon have claimed the sanctuary was helping to bring illegal migrants to the U.S.

The facility already closed between January 28 and 30 because of “credible threats” related to an event held by supporters of the former president in nearby McAllen, Glassberg said.

Photos purporting to be from the center had been circulating along with messages accusing the organization of helping smugglers bring migrants to the U.S.

Several right-wing activists have posted videos on social media of themselves in front of the sanctuary.

“We don’t think the threat has passed,” sanctuary Executive Director Marianna Trevino Wright told AFP on Wednesday, citing repeated “provocations” from these individuals.

Wright said she feared the allegations against the center would eventually push someone to “take action.”

“We look forward to reopening, soon, when the authorities and the professionals who are helping us get past this situation give us the green light,” Glassberg said, noting that employees would continue to receive their salaries during the closure.

The QAnon far-right conspiracy movement began in 2017 with claims that Democrats ran a satanic child-kidnapping sex-trafficking ring, and it’s been blamed for fueling the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 last year.

Trump has never condemned the movement, and even fed QAnon fever before the U.S. presidential election in 2020, floating his own conspiracy theories about a planeload of black-clad saboteurs disrupting his party convention.