EL PASO, Texas －After visiting with families at the University Medical Center, Beto spoke to Univision this morning about what is allegedly the deadliest terrorist attack on the Latinx community in American history (full interview). In speaking to Univision and in other interviews this morning, Beto continued to hold the President to account for his role in the mass shooting, and to praise the strength of El Pasoans, saying “it took someone coming from outside this community of immigrants to bring their hatred and this death to El Paso - and in the face of that this community has shown just incredible strength and love and is more than a match for this. We will overcome this.”
At 7:00PM MT tonight, Beto will join other members of the El Paso community at a vigil at the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center Headquarters.
Transcript:
We’re grieving right now for our fellow El Pasoans and this community is also thinking about Dayton and the people there who have suffered such extraordinary loss. Came back yesterday and got to spend some time with some of the victims and their families. I’m seeing extraordinarily courageous people who have suffered the most grievous wounds and who have also learned that it wasn’t just one family member, it was two or three or more who were shot and in some cases who were killed. This community is coming together unlike any other time that I can remember. Donations of blood, donations of food - just the love and encouragement and the strength and the support in the face of a horrific mass killing. You know, El Paso will see on average 18 murders a year. That’s the average over the last ten years. We lost at least 20 people yesterday. And it took someone coming from outside of this community of immigrants to come and bring their hatred and their death to El Paso, and in the face of that, this community has shown, just incredible strength and love and is more than a match for this. We will overcome this. But something has to change. And one of the wives of one of the victims, he had been selling things to raise money for the soccer team he coaches - shot in the chest, his wife asked me, “Why is this happening in our country right now, why will this continue to happen, how do we change this?” And Jake, I’ve got to tell you, in addition to universal background checks, in addition to ending the sales of weapons of war into our communities, in addition to red flag laws, we've got to acknowledge the hatred, the open racism that we're seeing. There is an environment of it in the United States. We see it on Fox News, we see it on the Internet, but we also see it from our commander-in-chief. He is encouraging this. He doesn't just tolerate it, he encourages it. Calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, warning of an invasion at our border, seeking to ban all people of one religion. Folks are responding to this. It doesn’t just offend us, it encourages the kind of violence that we’re seeing including in my hometown of El Paso yesterday.
We’re grieving right now for our fellow El Pasoans and this community is also thinking about Dayton and the people there who have suffered such extraordinary loss. Came back yesterday and got to spend some time with some of the victims and their families. I’m seeing extraordinarily courageous people who have suffered the most grievous wounds and who have also learned that it wasn’t just one family member, it was two or three or more who were shot and in some cases who were killed. This community is coming together unlike any other time that I can remember. Donations of blood, donations of food - just the love and encouragement and the strength and the support in the face of a horrific mass killing. You know, El Paso will see on average 18 murders a year. That’s the average over the last ten years. We lost at least 20 people yesterday. And it took someone coming from outside of this community of immigrants to come and bring their hatred and their death to El Paso, and in the face of that, this community has shown, just incredible strength and love and is more than a match for this. We will overcome this. But something has to change. And one of the wives of one of the victims, he had been selling things to raise money for the soccer team he coaches - shot in the chest, his wife asked me, “Why is this happening in our country right now, why will this continue to happen, how do we change this?” And Jake, I’ve got to tell you, in addition to universal background checks, in addition to ending the sales of weapons of war into our communities, in addition to red flag laws, we've got to acknowledge the hatred, the open racism that we're seeing. There is an environment of it in the United States. We see it on Fox News, we see it on the Internet, but we also see it from our commander-in-chief. He is encouraging this. He doesn't just tolerate it, he encourages it. Calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, warning of an invasion at our border, seeking to ban all people of one religion. Folks are responding to this. It doesn’t just offend us, it encourages the kind of violence that we’re seeing including in my hometown of El Paso yesterday.
Transcript:
We have absolutely got to overcome this. I’m thinking about the people in Dayton, I’m thinking about the folks in Gilroy. I think about the acts of hatred and violence - whether it was at Mother Emanuel in South Carolina, or the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, or Poway just outside of San Diego. We’ve got to be bigger and stronger and more confident and courageous than this hate and this intolerance right now. And we’ve got to call it out where it exists in the highest positions of power and public trust, including in the White House right now at this moment - or else it will consume us and this country. The future is in our hands. We either accept this or we change this, and I for one and going to do everything within my power to change this. Not only calling that out but reminding this country that we are a nation of immigrants and asylum seekers and refugees. That our differences must not only be tolerated but embraced as the very source of our strength and yes, our security and our safety. That is America at its best.
We have absolutely got to overcome this. I’m thinking about the people in Dayton, I’m thinking about the folks in Gilroy. I think about the acts of hatred and violence - whether it was at Mother Emanuel in South Carolina, or the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, or Poway just outside of San Diego. We’ve got to be bigger and stronger and more confident and courageous than this hate and this intolerance right now. And we’ve got to call it out where it exists in the highest positions of power and public trust, including in the White House right now at this moment - or else it will consume us and this country. The future is in our hands. We either accept this or we change this, and I for one and going to do everything within my power to change this. Not only calling that out but reminding this country that we are a nation of immigrants and asylum seekers and refugees. That our differences must not only be tolerated but embraced as the very source of our strength and yes, our security and our safety. That is America at its best.
Transcript:
Jake Tapper: During one of the debates, your 2020 opponent Governor Jay Inslee of Washington said that Trump is a quote white nationalist. That was a fairly stark accusation. Do you agree with that, do you think President Trump is a white nationalist?
Jake Tapper: During one of the debates, your 2020 opponent Governor Jay Inslee of Washington said that Trump is a quote white nationalist. That was a fairly stark accusation. Do you agree with that, do you think President Trump is a white nationalist?
Beto: Yes, I do. And again, from some of the record that I just recited to The things that he has said, both as a candidate and then as president of the United States, this cannot be open for debate. And you, as well as I, have a responsibility to call that out, to make sure that the American people understand what is being done in their name by the person who holds the highest position of public trust in this land. He does not even pretend to respect our differences or to understand that we are all created equal.
He is saying that some people are inherently defective or dangerous — reminiscent of something you might hear in the Third Reich, not something that you expect in the United States of America — based on their religion, based on their sexual orientation, based on their immigration status, based on the countries that they come from. Calling those in Africa shithole nations and saying that he'd like to have more immigration from Nordic countries, the whitest place on planet Earth today. So again, let's be very clear about what is causing this and who the president is. He is an open, avowed racist and is encouraging more racism in this country and this is incredibly dangerous for the United States of America right now. All of us have a responsibility to stand up and be counted on this issue.
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