From inside a Texas Walmart in 2019 during one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history, Adria Gonzalez heard the gunman shouting profanities against Mexicans as she helped panicked shoppers out of the store.
She won’t be there Wednesday when Patrick Crusius is expected to be indicted in an El Paso court on federal hate crimes and firearms charges for killing 23 people. But he is furious that federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty over the racist attack, which according to investigators warned of a “Hispanic invasion” of Texas before the shooter posted an online screech.
“It’s a slap in the face for us Latinos,” Gonzalez said.
The expected guilty plea would amount to the first conviction in a case that has dragged on for more than three years, and Crusius could still face the death penalty on separate state charges. But for Democrats and immigrant rights groups, there is a different frustration: how American politics continues to describe the “invasion” at the US-Mexico border even after the El Paso shooting.
From campaign stumps to hearings in Congress, Republicans have described the large number of migrant crossings in the US as an attack on public safety and heavily border communities. Critics have denounced the characterization as anti-immigrant and dangerous in the aftermath of the El Paso and other racially motivated attacks.
The issue flared up again during a hearing on border security Tuesday at the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, where Democrats accused the other side of making rhetoric against migrants. Republicans pushed back.
Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, who is Black, said, “To my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who want to point out that we are using this hearing to pander to white nationalism, I am not doing that.”
The August 3, 2019, shooting occurred on a busy weekend at Walmart, which is typically popular with shoppers from Mexico and the US. In addition to those killed, more than two dozen were injured and hundreds more were injured by attending or being held. Loved one got hurt.
Many of the dead and injured were Mexican citizens.
Crusius, 24, surrendered to police after the massacre, saying, “I’m the shooter,” and according to court records, he was targeting Mexicans. Prosecutors have said he drove more than 10 hours from his hometown near Dallas to the largely Latino border town. Shortly before Crusius opened fire, a document was published online stating that his shooting was in response to the “Hispanic invasion of Texas”.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott was criticized for a fundraising mailer the day before that attack, in which he called on his supporters to “protect Texas” from immigrants entering the country illegally. He responded at the time by saying “mistakes were made” over the mailer, though did not elaborate or specify the fault.
But Abbott has recently authorized a series of tougher immigration measures using the word “invasion”, including a letter in November to state police and the Texas National Guard with the subject line “Defend Texas Against Invasion”. .
Abbott has defended his statements by saying that he was using language contained in the US Constitution. Some legal scholars have called this a misinterpretation of the clause.
“If this isn’t an invasion, what is?” Abbott told CNN’s Jake Tapper during an interview last month. “Think of the amount of people coming across the border.”
Abbott’s office did not return a request seeking comment Tuesday.
Texas State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district includes South Texas, said the language needed to stop. “We are not at war here,” he said.
America’s Voice, an immigration reform group, said it tracked more than 80 Republican candidates during last year’s midterm elections, which amplified “invasion” and “replacement” conspiracies.
“I think it’s been creeping up for years,” said Zachary Mueller, political director of America’s Voice. “What I would say is that in 2021, there was a marked shift where it went from the fringes of the Republican Party to the mainstream of the Republican Party.”
A database of mass killings in the US since 2006 compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University shows that the number of fatal mass shootings linked to hate crimes has increased in recent years. Of the 13 major incidents, the 2019 Walmart shooting was the deadliest. Database tracks every mass murder – since 2006 – in the U.S. defined as four dead in the U.S., not including the perpetrator.
It is unclear when Crucius may face trial in Texas on the separate state charges. Gonzalez, who is credited with saving a life at Walmart, believes the death penalty will send a message.
Caring for her 3-month-old infant at home in El Paso, Gonzalez says she lives in fear of further attacks and now carries a small handgun for protection after completing firearms training.
“It stays with us who were inside the Walmart shooting on the morning of August,” she said. “We’re the ones who saw everything, and we’re still hurting inside.”