EL PASO, Texas — Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke said Monday that President Donald Trump should not visit El Paso in the wake of this weekend’s mass shooting. President Trump is expected to travel there on Wednesday.
“This president, who helped create the hatred that made Saturday's tragedy possible, should not come to El Paso. We do not need more division. We need to heal. He has no place here,” O’Rourke said in a tweet.
O’Rourke also tweeted Monday the president “has tried to convince Americans that Mexican immigrants are a threat to our security—but this weekend, it was our country's gun laws that killed eight Mexican citizens.”
O’Rourke canceled campaign events in California and Nevada this week and returned to El Paso, his hometown.
On Saturday, a gunman went to an El Paso Walmart and killed 22 people and wounding more than two dozen other people.
The attack happened hours before a separate mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, in which nine people were killed and others were wounded.
COMPREHENSIVE EL PASO COVERAGE:
- Group Makes White Crosses to Honor El Paso Shooting Victims
- Blood Donations Spike After Weekend Mass Shootings
- Local Leaders and Activists Speak at San Antonio Vigil
- State of Texas to Seek Death Penalty for Man Suspected of Killing 20 in El Paso
- How to Help Victims in El Paso: Blood Donations, Vigil in San Antonio
- Gov. Greg Abbott Orders Flags Flown at Half-Staff in Wake of El Paso Shooting
- El Paso Shooting Victims Include Mom Who Died Protecting Her Baby
- Lawmakers React to El Paso Mass Shooting
- El Paso Community Unites Following Mass Shooting
- We Are Blood to Assist El Paso With Donations Following Shooting