EL PASO -- Just ahead of the official unveiling August 3rd, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego walked through the healing garden planted to honor the victims of the 2019 Walmart mass shooting.
Since the hate crime that took the lives of 23 people and left dozens more injured, Samaniego has been involved in every painstaking detail of the garden. This includes the shape 鈥� 鈥渃ircular, like a hug,鈥� 23 Italian cypress trees planted by family members of the victims, and the fountains with calming cascades of water.
鈥淭he sound of water always gives us a sense of healing,鈥� said Samaniego, a former psychologist who hopes the garden will honor lives lost and give people the strength to move forward. 鈥淭hey should never die in vain. 鈥榃hat is it I could do to make things more transformational?鈥欌��
Two years later, as El Paso remembers the victims, they鈥檙e also reminded of the broken promises made by top leadership in Texas in the wake of the shooting. The alleged gunman from the Dallas area drove 10 hours to El Paso to, in his own words, posted on a racist online platform, 鈥渟top the Hispanic invasion of Texas.鈥�
The initial reaction from some Republican leaders in Texas was sympathy and concern. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he was committed to 鈥渁ction and results鈥� and immediately called for safety commission roundtable discussions in El Paso to 鈥済enerate ideas to combat the rise of extremist groups and hateful ideologies, keep guns out of the hands of deranged individuals and combat domestic terrorism in Texas鈥� according to a his office issued weeks after the shooting and opening remarks at a safety commission meeting in August 2019.
But two years after the attack, some of the conditions that led to the shooting remain entrenched; violence by extremist groups is on the rise to the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice; and rhetoric describing migrants as criminals and invaders is now used by Texas鈥� Republican leadership, including Abbott.
Texas Republicans expanded gun rights earlier this year when the state Legislature passed the 鈥減ermitless carry鈥� bill. Abbott supported what he called the 鈥渃onstitutional carry鈥� bill and signed it into law. In September Texans will be allowed to carry a handgun without a permit or training.
The governor鈥檚 office declined an interview request due to his busy schedule at this time.
鈥淣ot only has he not done anything, but we鈥檝e gone in the opposite direction, the more dangerous direction on so many fronts,鈥� said U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso.
Moreover, the governor and other top Republican leadership portray the border as a dangerous place that needs to be defended as record number of migrants arrive. At a recent press conference announcing the governor鈥檚 plan to build a Texas border wall, Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said, 鈥淲e are being invaded. That term has been used in the past but it鈥檚 never been more true.鈥�
The alleged gunman used the term 鈥渋nvasion鈥� in his manifesto posted before carrying out the mass shooting in El Paso.
Abbott has said homes are 鈥渂eing invaded鈥� on the border and that he has a responsibility to protect Texans. He鈥檚 seeking donations to build a Texas border wall, which is reminiscent of the crowdfunding effort in the weeks before the mass shooting when a private group 鈥� 鈥淲e Build the Wall鈥� 鈥� chose the El Paso border area to erect a half-mile private wall.
Three leaders of the group, with strong ties to Trump, were later indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
Escobar has called out top leadership in Texas, including Abbott, for inflammatory language, which she warns will lead to more bloodshed.
鈥淭hey know full well that their xenophobic racist rhetoric feeds hatred, and they know full well that that hatred fuels violence. And who are the victims of the violence? It is, we have seen in Texas, vulnerable communities like ours,鈥� Escobar said.
Abbott recently deployed the National Guard and ramped up Texas Department of Public Safety patrols in border counties. He issued an executive order directing DPS troopers to 鈥渟top any vehicle upon reasonable suspicion鈥� of transporting migrants who 鈥減ose a risk of carrying COVID-19.鈥� The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas says the order will lead to racial profiling.
The Department of Justice Friday filed a lawsuit in El Paso asking a judge to block Abbott鈥檚 order. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, in a letter to Abbott, described the order as 鈥渄angerous and unlawful.鈥�
Escobar was home on the day of the mass shooting in 2019 and in the U.S. Capitol this year during the violent insurrection. 鈥淓l Paso during the Aug. 3 domestic terrorist attack, and being literally inside the Capitol as terrorists surrounded us on January 6, there is absolutely a through line there,鈥� she said.
Samaniego, the El Paso County judge, also sees similarities in the attacks by the mob at the U.S. Capitol and the lone gunman who drove to El Paso.
鈥淚t was a narrative that he picked up that felt that he had to act on. How different is that from January the sixth?鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey pick up the narrative, they think they鈥檙e going to defend the country in that particular way with anger and, you know, ugliness, as a way to solve I don鈥檛 know what,鈥� he said.
There were other common threads: The violent pro-Trump mob hurled racial slurs at Black police officers when they stormed the Capitol building, according to Capitol police officers who testified before the House select committee investigating the deadly attack.
As El Paso remembers the Aug. 3 mass shooting, there鈥檚 a renewed call to action to prevent more hate crimes and violence in other cities.
鈥淲e鈥檙e two years removed from the horrific massacre in El Paso, and while it was somewhat of a wakeup call for some people, we still have a long way to go in stemming the tide of rising xenophobia and extremism,鈥� said Dena Marks, senior associate director for Anti-Defamation League鈥檚 Southwest region.
Marks stressed Texas is a 鈥渢roubling and disturbing鈥� example where some political leaders continue to use 鈥渋nflammatory and divisive rhetoric, especially as it pertains to immigration," she said. 鈥淲e need our leaders to lead and call out hate whenever it arises, not stand by and stoke more fear with hateful words.鈥�
Some of those who survived the mass shooting in El Paso two years ago worry about more hate crime bloodshed.
鈥淚t can be repeated,鈥� said Adria Gonzalez, a survivor shopping at the Walmart with her mother the day of the attack. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we can鈥檛 forget, we can鈥檛 forget that morning. We can鈥檛 forget those 23 victims and all their families.鈥�
Copyright 2021 KTEP. To see more, visit .