A congresswoman has claimed that the victims of Saturday’s attack in El Paso, Texas, don’t need President Donald Trump to visit them as they recover from their injuries in hospital. Trump has planned to travel El Paso on Wednesday in the wake of the deadly shooting by a suspect who posted a manifesto online shortly beforehand that railed against Hispanic immigrants and used invasion similar to the president’s rhetoric. The shooter is 21-years old Patrick Crusius. He killed 22 people and injured more than 2 dozens at a Walmart in the city. He was arrested at the scene and charged with capital murder. He will face the death penalty if convicted. The shooting incident is under investigation as domestic terrorism.
A Texas Democrat Veronica Escobar informed MSNBC. She visited a hospital treating victims of the El Paso shooting and most of them were Hispanic. She informed the media that they gave her a message for Trump ahead of his trip to the city. Escobar said, “This community is full of hope and resilience and beauty. But the other thing that I heard, totally unsolicited, from victims still in the hospital as they’d grab my arm and tell me, Tell him not to come here”.
It is noteworthy that President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are scheduled to arrive in El Paso on Wednesday evening. Escobar also informed President Trump not to come to El Paso. She quoted feelings of a Vietnam veteran Ralph, he said, “I am being made to feel like I’m not American”. “And so as I said via Twitter, and I’ve said before, words are powerful and words have consequences”. She added, “The words that he’s used to dehumanizing us, to dehumanize communities like mine, to dehumanize immigrants, they have a consequence, and they provide fuel for people who already are bigoted. When they have a president who is racist, and who whips people up into a frenzy at rallies, and when people yell we’ll shoot them and he doesn’t stop to think, Oh my god, what am I doing”?