LULAC calls on Trump to stop feeding anti-immigrant hate after racial terrorist attacks

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LULAC calls on Trump to stop feeding anti-immigrant

hate after racial terrorist attacks

 

For immediate release

Aug. 5, 2019

 

DES MOINES – The League of United Latin American Citizens in Iowa has declared the mass killing of 20 people and wounding of 26 others in El Paso a blanket act of racial hatred against Latinos and has called on President Donald Trump to stop deliberately feeding the anti-immigrant frenzy.

On Saturday, a man shot and killed 20 people and injured 26 others at a Walmart in Texas. A man who has been detained in connection with the shooting reportedly made a manifesto that suggested his reason for the shooting was a hate crime. A document tied to that same man has been circulated on online forums with the desire to stop the “Hispanic invasion of Texas” and cites support for a hate-crime shooting in New Zealand. 

LULAC’s national office called for an immediate convening of the FBI special task forces for hate crime and domestic terrorism.

“From a review of the shooter’s social media posts and his so-called manifesto, the murders appear to be motivated by hate,” LULAC National President Domingo Garcia said. “Innocent Latinos were targeted.”

The Pew Research Center estimated the U.S. Hispanic population to be at almost 60 million in 2018, up 1.2 million from the previous year. Hispanics now make up 18 percent of the country’s population.

“This tragedy is a direct attack on our community,” said Joe Enriquez Henry, the president of LULAC Council 307 in Des Moines and adviser to the national president for civic engagement and elections. “Iowa has benefited from the contributions of Latinos in rebuilding many towns in our state during the past decade.”

Garcia said the shooter’s actions were not a random hate crime, but instead motivated by ethnic hatred, which has been inspired by the xenophobic rhetoric from Trump.

“We all agree that the xenophobic hate speech of President Trump continues to fan the flames of racial, ethnic and religious hatred in this country,” he said.

Garcia and Enriquez Henry both called on elected officials to be held accountable in ending hate and taking action.

For more information, contact Joe Enriquez Henry at 515.208.7312 or joehenry@iowalatinos.org.

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