Words Have Consequences: Trump’s Rhetoric Echoes In El Paso Gunman’s Sentencing

Nearly five years after a mass shooting tore through the heart of El Paso, survivors and families of the victims confronted the man responsible—not with rage, but with a quiet, devastating resolve.

Patrick Crusius, the 26-year-old who drove over 700 miles to target Hispanics at a Walmart in August 2019, sat expressionless in court this week as victim after victim gave voice to their pain. The courtroom was heavy with stories of lives interrupted, futures stolen, and trauma that refuses to fade.

This week’s sentencing hearings mark the final stage in a legal process that began after Crusius admitted guilt in both federal and state cases. He had already received 90 consecutive life sentences for federal hate crime charges, according to AP. In the Texas courtroom, Judge Sam Medrano sentenced him to life without parole for murder and added 22 more life sentences for aggravated assault.

Despite Crusius’ attorneys arguing a lack of evidence and seeking to postpone key hearings—accusing the El Paso District Attorney’s Office of “outrageous conduct, shocking to the conscience” in its handling of the Walmart case—Judge Sam Medrano denied all motions, underscoring his commitment to the integrity of the proceedings and rejecting attempts to derail them without merit, as reported by El Paso Times.

Medrano, a Democrat, has presided over the 409th District Court since 2001 and is serving a term set to conclude in 2028. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at El Paso and earned his J.D. from Texas Tech University, according to Ballotpedia.

“You traveled nine hours to a city that would have welcomed you with open arms,” Judge Medrano told the gunman. “You brought not peace but hate. You came to inflict terror, to take innocent lives.”

Patrick Crusius returned to court nearly six years after the massacre, at a time when the anti-immigrant rhetoric that fueled his actions is once again intensifying. President Donald Trump’s renewed calls to deport millions of undocumented immigrants have brought the word “invasion” back into political discourse—language echoed in Crusius’s manifesto and now cited as a legal rationale for mass deportations and detention with limited due process, as reported by The New York Times.

Also, Crusius’s attorney, Joe Spencer, told The New York Times that his client drove over 600 miles from the Dallas area to target Hispanics after being influenced by racist conspiracy theories and incendiary language from Trump, including the portrayal of immigrants as invaders.

Though Crusius offered no apology, his legal team expressed condolences and said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder. “We share this not as an excuse,” said defense attorney Joe Spencer, “but as part of the explanation for the inexplicable.” For many present, no explanation could lessen the weight of the loss.

Liliana Muñoz, a vendor from Ciudad Juárez, had gone to Walmart to buy snacks to resell. Her body bears lasting wounds; she now walks with a brace and cane. Her spirit, she said, also changed. “I used to be a happy, dancing person. Now I live with fear,” she shared through a statement read in court. Still, she, too, chose to extend forgiveness. “Because what would be the point of forgiving what was easy to forgive?”

The El Paso massacre was one of the deadliest anti-Latino attacks in modern U.S. history. Twenty-three people died, including Mexican nationals, grandparents, tradespeople, and teenagers. Some had crossed the border just for the day.

In a message posted online shortly before the shooting, Crusius had echoed white supremacist rhetoric about a “Hispanic invasion.” He claimed his actions were in defense of the nation’s future. After the arrest, he told police he was specifically targeting Mexicans.

The political undertones of the case remain undeniable. In court, Judge Medrano addressed Crusius with clear defiance: “You came to inflict terror, to take innocent lives and to shatter a community. But your mission failed. El Paso rose—stronger and braver.”

Among those who testified, some expressed hope Crusius would reflect deeply in prison. Others accepted that he might not.

Adriana Zandri lost her husband, Ivan Manzano, who had gone shopping that day. She spoke of a life forever altered for her and their two young children. “The only thing I wanted,” she said, “was for them to not grow up with hatred in their hearts.”

Crusius will serve the rest of his life in prison—without the possibility of parole. As his lawyer bluntly stated, “Patrick will leave prison only in a coffin, on God’s time.”

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