El Paso seems pretty unhappy about Trump's post-shooting visit Wednesday


El Paso Mayor Dee Margo (R) announced Monday that President Trump will visit the city on Wednesday, four days after a 21-year-old gunman from an affluent Dallas suburb drove 10 hours to a local Walmart and murdered at least 22 people in what federal prosecutors are calling domestic terrorism with apparent anti-Latino motives. "I want to clarify for the political spin that this is the office of the mayor of El Paso in an official capacity welcoming the office of the president of the United States," Margo said, adding that he's already "getting the emails and the phone calls" from unhappy residents. Trump is also expected to visit Dayton, Ohio, where a gunman killed nine people early Sunday.
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D), whose district includes much of El Paso, told NBC's Morning Joe on Monday that as far as she's concerned, Trump "is not welcome here. ... Words have consequences. The president has made my community and my people the enemy." Escobar's predecessor, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, also said Trump "has no place here."
Trump held a rally in El Paso in February — the city manager's office said Monday that Trump's campaign still owes the city $569,204.63 in police and public safety costs — and many residents said they were unhappy to see him return. "We were safe until he started talking," John Smith-Davis, 47, a retired Army veteran, told the Los Angeles Times. "He made us a target with his hateful rhetoric."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"It's offensive just because most of us here are Hispanic" Isel Velasco, 25, told The Associated Press. "It's not like he's going to help or do anything about it." Longtime El Paso resident Jaime Abeytia mostly agreed. "Unless he's coming with some solid policy changes that directly address the available of high-capacity weapons — and not use the opportunity to propose more draconian immigration policy — I'm not interested in a Trump visit."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Why the weather keeps getting 'stuck'
In the Spotlight Record hot and dry spring caused by 'blocked' area of high pressure above the UK
-
Can Starmer sell himself as the 'tough on immigration' PM?
Today's Big Question Former human rights lawyer 'now needs to own the change – not just mouth the slogans' to win over a sceptical public
-
UK-India trade deal: how the social security arrangements will work
The Explainer A National Insurance exemption in the UK-India trade deal is causing concern but should British workers worry?
-
Qatar luxury jet gift clouds Trump trip to Mideast
speed read Qatar is said to be presenting Trump with a $400 million plane, which would be among the biggest foreign gifts ever received by the US government
-
Trump taps Fox News' Pirro for DC attorney post
speed read The president has named Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to be the top federal prosecutor for Washington, replacing acting US Attorney Ed Martin
-
Trump, UK's Starmer outline first post-tariff deal
speed read President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Kier Starmer struck a 'historic' agreement to eliminate some of the former's imposed tariffs
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffs
speed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report
speed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'