The victims of Saturday's white nationalist terror attack in El Paso, Texas, do not want President Donald Trump to visit them as they recover from their injuries in hospital, a congresswoman has claimed.
Trump will travel to 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" rhetoric similar to the president's.
The alleged shooter, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, killed 22 people and injured dozens more at a Walmart in the city. He was arrested at the scene and charged with capital murder, meaning if convicted he faces the death penalty. The incident is under investigation as domestic terrorism.
Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat, spoke to MSNBC after visiting a hospital treating victims of the El Paso shooting, many of who were Hispanic. She told All In host Chris Hayes that they gave her a message for Trump ahead of his trip to the city.
"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,'" Escobar said.
The White House did not respond immediately to Newsweek's request for comment. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are scheduled to arrive in El Paso at around 1.45 p.m. local time and stay for around 2.5 hours.
The congresswoman, who has also told President Trump not to visit El Paso, said she also spoke to a Vietnam veteran called Ralph who 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," Escobar added.
"The words that he's used to dehumanize 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?'"
At a Florida re-election rally in May 2019, Trump chuckled as someone in the crowd suggested shooting migrants crossing the southern border as a solution to stopping the flow of people into the U.S. "That's only in the panhandle you can get away with that," Trump replied as the crowd cheered.
