Tag: El Paso massacre

‘How do you stop these people?’: Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric looms over El Paso massacre

Washington Post logoPresident Trump has relentlessly used his bully pulpit to decry Latino migration as “an invasion of our country.” He has demonized undocumented immigrants as “thugs” and “animals.” He has defended the detention of migrant children, hundreds of whom have been held in squalor. And he has warned that without a wall to prevent people from crossing the border from Mexico, America would no longer be America.

“How do you stop these people? You can’t,” Trump lamented at a May rally in Panama City Beach, Fla. Someone in the crowd yelled back one idea: “Shoot them.” The audience of thousands cheered and Trump smiled. Shrugging off the suggestion, he quipped, “Only in the Panhandle can you get away with that statement.”

On Saturday, a 21-year-old white man entered a shopping center in El Paso, according to police, and allegedly decided to “shoot them.” Inside a crowded Walmart in a vibrant border city visited daily by thousands of Mexicans, a late-morning back-to-school shopping scene turned into a pool of blood.

View the complete August 4 article by Philip Rucker on The Washington Post website here.

Mexico says 8 of its citizens were killed in El Paso, plans legal action to protect Mexicans in U.S.

Washington Post logoMEXICO CITY — Mexican officials on Sunday angrily denounced the mass shooting in El Paso and announced unusual actions to protect Mexicans in the United States — including possibly charging the perpetrator in Mexican courts.

Officials said eight Mexicans were among the 22 fatalities from the attack Saturday in the border city, and seven more were wounded.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Mexico would take actions, including possibly bringing a criminal case against the shooter and supporting a lawsuit against the seller of the weapon used in the massacre.

View the complete August 5 article by Mary Beth Sheridan on The Washington Post website here.

Republicans struggle to respond in wake of El Paso, Dayton shootings

Washington Post logoThe Republican Party, which controls power in Washington and both states where America’s most recent mass shootings occurred, struggled on Sunday to provide a response or offer a solution to what has become a public safety epidemic.

There were thoughts and prayers, an appeal to donate blood, accolades for law enforcement and a presidential proclamation to lower flags to half-staff to honor the victims — 29 killed in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, and dozens more wounded over 13 hours.

Some Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, cited the influence of social media and video games or mentioned mental health problems. But on the question of how to stem the rising tide of gun violence, the overwhelming response from the party was silence or generalities.

View the complete August 4 article by Felicia Sonmez and Paul Kane on The Washington Post website here.