Just six months before a gunman opened fire inside of a crowded El Paso Walmart in what is being investigated as domestic terrorism, President Donald Trump had stepped onstage for a rally in the city where he emphasized that undocumented immigrants had committed “murders, murders, killings, murders.” In the wake of a weekend that saw 31 people die in two separate mass shootings, his words are once again facing backlash, with many claiming that they were echoed by the El Paso shooter in his alleged manifesto and only incite hate.
Trump smears undocumented immigrants: “Murders, murders, murders. Killings, murders!”
Crowd erupts in “Build the wall” chants. pic.twitter.com/kHPQteZdQR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 12, 2019
“Murders, murders, murders. Killings, murders!” Trump proclaimed in the February speech, during which he praised Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for allegedly detaining more 4,000 immigrant murderers in the span of two years.
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The statement, which lacks evidence from a a national database comparing crimes to immigration status, which does not exist, according to the Independent, sent the crowd into a chant of “build the wall.”
The rally and the rhetoric used was resurfaced on Twitter following the tragic El Paso shooting on Saturday, in which a gunman killed 22 people and injured more than two dozen more. In his manifesto, he explained that the shooting was in “”response to [the] His[panic] invasion of Texas.”
“Six months later, a dallas white nationalist drove to the city that hosted this trump rally and shot 22 people dead, to ‘stop the hispanic invasion of texas,’” one Twitter user wrote in response to Trump’s February rally.
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends,” another person wrote. “How can the Republican Party stand by while Trump dehumanize immigrants.”
“Not only blood on Trumps hands but on everyone that was in that crowd shouting that,” commented a third. “I hope they realize this and look at the pictures of every victim and feel guilt.”
Of course, the El Paso rally was not the first, nor would it be the last, of Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. During his State of the Union of address, he falsely claimed that El Paso saw a major drop in crime after a wall was built along the border. Trump has also referred to immigrant gang members as “animals” and stated that unauthorized migrants “pour into and infest” the United States.”
Addressing the nation Monday, however, Trump seemed to denounce such speech, stating that “in one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America.”
Trump is expected to visit El Paso, Texas today. He is also set to travel to the scene of the mass shooting in Dayton.
