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Last month, amid the disruption and chaos of the first 100 days of President Trump’s second term, an important legal development in Texas garnered little national attention. On April 21, Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty in state court to murdering 23 people and wounding 22 others in his Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart.
Crusius was already serving multiple life sentences on federal hate crimes charges. Last month’s guilty plea on state charges closed the book on one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history.
The Walmart massacre was an act of domestic terrorism. Crusius traveled over 600 miles to El Paso with the intent to kill Hispanics. He was influenced by hyped-up, fear-mongering assertions spread by conservative media and politicians, including Trump, about an impending “invasion” of migrants from Mexico and South America. He was also inspired by
“The Great Replacement” conspiracy theory.
The Great Replacement argues that a “genocide” is being committed against white people through non-white immigration and interracial marriage, and that Jews (who are viewed as non-white) are behind it all. Replacement Theory was a core theme at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, where tiki-torch-bearing white nationalists shouted, “Jews will not replace us!” and where a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi rammed his car full speed into a crowd of peaceful counter-protesters, killing one person and injuring 35.
Replacement Theory, combined with the hysteria about an “invasion” of illegal migrants, inspired the domestic terrorist who murdered 11 Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in October 2018. Thanks to social media and the internet, Replacement Theory is a global phenomenon. It also inspired the terrorist who killed 51 Muslim worshippers in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2019.
Before his racially motivated shooting spree, Crusius posted a manifesto online proclaiming his admiration for the Christchurch killer and railing against what he called “cultural and ethnic replacement” and “Hispanic invasion.”
Crusius’ defense attorney, Joe Spencer, told the Texas court that his client, who has a long history of mental illness, “explicitly stated the attack was a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas, echoing the language used by political figures. Indeed, Patrick believed he was acting in the direction of the president at the time, seeing it as his duty to stop the invasion because that’s what he believed [President Trump] was telling him.”
The prosecuting attorney, James Montoya, also acknowledged the significance of xenophobic rhetoric. “There’s a lot to say about the defendant and the hateful ideology that motivated him,” he said, noting that there are “public figures and elected officials that espouse and promote this ideology.”
The concept of “replacement” has become a Trump trope. In his first term, he made false claims about “caravans” of migrant invaders and used profanity to describe migration from (non-white) developing countries. In the 2024 campaign, Trump talked about migrants “poisoning the blood” of Americans and shared a social media image suggesting that America under Harris would be flooded by dark-skinned people.
Today, the president uses the term “invasion” to justify applying the 1798 Alien Enemies Act and refers to illegal migrants as “animals.” Such inflammatory and dehumanizing rhetoric is being used to rationalize mass deportations without due process of law.
The provision of border security and the regulation of immigration are essential duties of government. But public officials in high office need to use their words responsibly and not peddle conspiracy theories that can incite others to commit acts of violence.•
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Atlas, a political scientist, is a senior lecturer at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Indianapolis. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Indiana University. Send comments to [email protected].
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