Torres Small criticized for politicizing vigil
Local constituents are speaking out after Xochitl Torres Small used a vigil for victims of the El Paso shooting to push her gun control bill at what was supposed to be an non-political event.
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Las Cruces residents speak out on political nature of event honoring El Paso victims
Las Cruces Sun News
Jacqueline Devine
August 7, 2019
Some Las Cruces residents are speaking out after Monday’s solidarity event held to honor those killed in Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso, saying that the event turned into a political gathering instead of a memorial.
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Ever Vidaña, a Las Cruces resident who left the event early, said the memorial was not the place to speak about political ideologies. He said he was disappointed in the city for allowing such political commentary to carry on in the city’s town center, Plaza de Las Cruces.
“The people that lost their lives, they haven’t even been buried. Some of them were just identified on Monday morning and these politicians didn’t wait 24 hours after the event happened to politicize their deaths,” Vidaña told the Sun-News. “These people who are mourning and in shock, they’re messing with their emotions.”
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At the event, several state and city officials took a stance on tighter gun control laws and criticized President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on immigration.
“It is not too soon to have a call for action. It is not too soon to call out hate because hateful words have deadly consequences and it is not too late to call on action in Congress to pass universal background checks,” U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, a Democrat, stated at the vigil. “The House has done that work and we are waiting and begging for the Senate to do the same. It is not too soon to join together to call out domestic terror and white supremacy, it is our job to respond with love.”
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