Five years after El Paso massacre targeting Latinos killed 23, 'invasion' rhetoric has amplified

In the five years since 23 people were massacred in the racially motivated El Paso, Texas, Walmart mass shooting, the incendiary rhetoric that motivated their murderer has worsened and become normalized, say leaders of anti-hate, immigration and antisemitic groups.

Families of those killed and 22 more who were wounded will mark the grim anniversary Saturday of the day a gunman who drove 700 miles to target Mexicans — as he told police after the shooting — ended the lives of their spouses, children, family members and friends.

Before the shooting, the gunman posted a screed online saying the shooting was his response to the “Hispanic invasion of Texas” and a replacement of white people by immigrants, echoing the “great replacement” conspiracy theory promoted by white supremacists.

Paul Jamrowski, father of Jordan Anchondo who along with her husband, Andre Anchondo, lost her life shielding her then 2-month-old son, said he’ll spend the day “reminiscing, remembering them, the people they were”.

But because of a gag order in the state case against the shooter, Jarowski said he could not discuss the gunman's motivations. The shooter was sentenced last year to 90 consecutive life terms after pleading guilty to federal charges that included hate crime charges. He still faces state prosecution.

The city's open wounds fester as the language used before the massacre by then-President Donald Trump describing the border as under “invasion” and the nation being attacked has spread and is now amplified, leaders of several organizations, including Human Rights First, the Border Network for Human Rights, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and America's Voice, said in a press call Thursday.

At the Republican National Convention,