Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says that Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric on immigrants is “directly responsible” for the massacre in El Paso, Texas, over the weekend, where a gunman who posted an anti-immigrant screed online killed at least 22 people.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez blamed Mr Trump for creating the hostile environment in America during a vigil Monday in Brooklyn.
The president “is directly responsible for what happened in El Paso,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez said, according to the New York Daily news.
During her remarks, the freshman Democrat said that “white supremacy is an international terrorist problem,” in reference to the recent gun violence in New Zealand, and said that the problem is being baked into American culture.
“There are so many different issues that are weaving themselves into a braid of violence into our country. One of them is white supremacist terrorism,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez said.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez is among several prominent democrats who have spoken out forcefully against Mr Trump, and described the president as a racist, since the El Paso shooting.
In addition to her, presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke — a native of El Paso and 2020 democratic presidential candidate — has also spoken up to denounce Mr Trump for his racist rhetoric, which has included frequent attacks on Mexicans.
“Anyone who is surprised,” Mr O’Rourke said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, “Is part of the problem right now — including members of the media who ask, ‘Hey Beto, do you think the president is racist?’”
“Well, Jesus Christ, of course he’s racist,” Mr O’Rourke said.
