Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio, one of the nation’s highest-ranking Mexican American Catholic leaders, was left in shock Saturday when he heard about the mass shooting in El Paso. Garcia-Siller said there was “no justifiable explanation for such scenes of horror.”
But what was clear to the archbishop, who recently supported migrants and asylum seekers crossing the southern border, was that President Donald Trump’s “invasion” rhetoric against Hispanics, language echoed in a manifesto police believe was posted by the alleged El Paso gunman, helped create a climate that led to the tragedy.
The 62-year-old archbishop said on Twitter this week that Trump — a very weak and “poor man” — had caused “too much damage already” and that the president’s rhetoric had “destroyed” people’s lives.