El Paso Shooting Victims Recovering In Hospital Urge Trump To Cancel Visit And Stay Away: Texas Congresswoman

Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents El Paso in Congress, said victims of the deadly Saturday shooting at a Walmart in El Paso told her from their hospital beds to tell President Trump to cancel his planned visit to the city on Wednesday.

In an interview on “All In with Chris Hayes,” Escobar told Hayes that several survivors of the shooting delivered the unprompted request during her discussions with them.

“This community is full of hope and resilience and beauty,” Escobar told Hayes. “But the other thing that I heard, Chris, totally unsolicited, from victims still in the hospital as they’d grabbed my arm and tell me, ‘Tell [Trump] not to come here.'”

“The words he’s used to dehumanize us … they have a consequence,” she continued, adding that Trump was making Hispanic Americans feel as if they are not really American.

Rep. Escobar describes visiting El Paso shooting victims in the hospital – some of whom asked her to "tell [Trump] not to come here." pic.twitter.com/AyGcZMkHrB

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 7, 2019

On Twitter, Escobar said that she was informed in her discussions with the White House that Trump was “too busy” for a discussion with her about his hateful rhetoric aimed at Hispanic communities.

“I declined the invitation because I refuse to be an accessory to his visit. I refuse to join without a dialogue about the pain his racist and hateful words & actions have caused our community and country,” she added.

I was told that @realDonaldTrump is “too busy” to have that conversation.

I declined the invitation because I refuse to be an accessory to his visit. I refuse to join without a dialogue about the pain his racist and hateful words & actions have caused our community and country.

— Rep. Veronica Escobar (@RepEscobar) August 6, 2019

Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), who previously represented the city in Congress and as mayor pro tem, tweeted Monday that the president should not visit.

The suspected shooter’s manifesto cited much of the president’s own anti-immigrant rhetoric.

“We need to heal,” O’Rourke tweeted. “He has no place here.”

Rep. Escobar describes visiting El Paso shooting victims in the hospital – some of whom asked her to "tell [Trump] not to come here." pic.twitter.com/AyGcZMkHrB

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 7, 2019