In December, U.S. Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) spoke on the House floor to present statistics about the alleged number of people on the U.S. terror watchlist who were arrested at the Southern border. (Wilson puts the number at 169 on the year, citing Fox News statistics.)
Wilson said: “The threat is clear. We see the shocking number of trained, well financed mass murderers invading America.” Wilson added: “Ukraine was invaded. Then Israel invaded. Now America invaded.”
Former U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) — who ran for President in 2020 — recirculated Wilson’s speech and wrote: “The man who slaughtered 23 people in an El Paso Walmart used this same language.”
The man who slaughtered 23 people in an El Paso Walmart used this same language. https://t.co/AaWlCfdTpC
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) December 12, 2023
O’Rourke is referring to the Patrick Crusius, a 21-year-old on August 3, 2019 when he opened fire in a Walmart store in El Paso, killing 23 people and injuring 22 others. The FBI investigation revealed that the shooting was an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime against the Latino community. Crusius was given 90 life sentences at trial.
Before the mass shooting, Crusius posted an anti-immigration manifesto on the online message board 8chan which mentioned “a Hispanic invasion” and a claim that Democrats would control the United States partly due to an increasing Hispanic population.
The man who slaughtered 23 people in an El Paso Walmart used this same language. https://t.co/AaWlCfdTpC
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) December 12, 2023
Trump critics on X pointed out that the manifesto “mirrored comments Trump had made in the past, including references to illegal immigration as an invasion.” When asked what Trump could do to prevent such mass shooting, O’Rourke told a reporter: “He’s been calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. I don’t know, like, members of the press, what the f***?”
Who wants to tell Trump that it was a white, American born citizen who targeted brown people at Wal-Mart in El Paso?
— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly 🌸 (@AynRandPaulRyan) August 5, 2019
Tying gun reform to immigration reform makes no sense.#MondayMorning #WhiteSupremacistInChief #Mondaythoughts pic.twitter.com/UlA20XDr2j
Political activist Holly Figueroa O’Reilly (who was controversially blocked on Twitter by then-President Trump in 2017) also criticized Trump for tying gun reform to immigration reform after the shooting. She wrote: “Who wants to tell Trump that it was a white, American born citizen who targeted brown people at Wal-Mart in El Paso?”
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