Mexico Announces Legal Action Against U.S. After Several Nationals Died In El Paso Mass Shooting
A top Mexican government official announced on Sunday that his country will be taking unspecified legal action against the United States government after a mass shooting incident in El Paso, Texas resulted in the loss of life of several Mexican nationals.
According to The Hill, Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard made the announcement.
It came on the heels of instruction from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador who wants his government to make sure “the position from Mexico translates first as protecting the affected families and after in effective, swift, expeditious and forceful legal actions.”
Mexico’s president issued the call in a video posted to his Twitter account.
Posición sobre la tragedia en El Paso Texas : pic.twitter.com/gIXuJcQJLy
— Marcelo Ebrard C. (@m_ebrard) August 4, 2019
“What happened was inadmissible and today at 4:30 PM we’ll reveal the first judicial actions the government of Mexico will take in accordance with international law,” the president said.
He also said that his government would outline details of the legal action that they would take against the U.S later on Sunday, which would be in accordance with international law.
According to Insider, three Mexican nationals died and six were wounded in what federal authorities are now calling an act of domestic terrorism.
A total of 20 people died and 26 were wounded in the gruesome attack, which may have been motivated by race by a 21-year-old white male by the name of Patrick Crusius.
Police found a manifesto that reportedly belonged to the suspected shooter which detailed his anti-immigration views and believed that Hispanics would eventually turn the state of Texas into a “Democrat stronghold.” He also warned of a Latino “invasion.”
The alleged gunman reportedly took an eight-hour road trip from the Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas area to launch his potentially racially-motivated killing spree at a Walmart near the Cielo Vista Mall.
El Paso is a U.S. border city and sits directly across from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Because of it’s close proximity to Mexico, the city is approximately 80 percent Hispanic.
#BREAKING: Mexico says it will take legal action against US over El Paso shooting https://t.co/Ij1pHGIrSX pic.twitter.com/dzJFEUGZBS
— The Hill (@thehill) August 4, 2019
Ebrard identified the three of the six Mexican nationals who were wounded as 45-year-old Mario de Alba Montes, 44-year-old Olivia Mariscal Rodríguez, and 10-year-old Erika de Alba Mariscal. They were being treated at an El Paso hospital.
The other three who were wounded were not identified at the time of this writing.
Mexico’s ambassador to Washington D.C., Martha Bárcena, condemned the alleged shooter’s hate speech and labeled the attack “frightening.”
The intentionality of the attack against the Mexicans and the Latino community in El Paso is frightening. NO to hate speech. NO to xenophobic discourse. @ADL
— Martha Bárcena (@Martha_Barcena) August 4, 2019
According to the Washington Post, López Obrador is a staunch defender of Mexican immigrants who reside in the United States. He has a history of visiting Mexican communities in the U.S. to give speeches and even published some of those speeches in a book aimed at President Donald Trump titled, Listen Up, Trump.
