Latest news with #ELPASOMATTERS
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Texas Supreme Court sides with AG Ken Paxton in efforts to get records from El Paso's Annunciation House
EL PASO, Texas (EL PASO MATTERS) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton can move forward with his efforts to gather records from El Paso's Annunciation House to investigate his claims that the migrant shelter network was harboring undocumented immigrants, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday. 'We conclude that the trial court erred in its constitutional holdings. We likewise conclude that the court's related injunctions, which prevent the attorney general from even filing a quo warranto action, were premature at best. Our primary holding is that the attorney general has the constitutional authority to file his proposed quo warranto action, which simply allows the usual litigation process to unfold,' the state's highest civil court said in an 8-0 decision. Quo warranto is a centuries old legal term, with roots in English common law, that requires a person or organization to show what authority they have for exercising a right or ability they hold. In this case, Paxton is challenging Annunciation House's right to do business in Texas. The ruling noted that this is the first time in more than a century that the Texas Supreme Court ruled on a quo warranto proceeding. Ruben Garcia, founder and executive director of Annunciation, told El Paso Matters Friday that the organization is looking at the full ruling and couldn't comment until they have a complete understanding of all its implications. The court overturned a July 2024 ruling by 205th District Judge Francisco Dominguez of El Paso, who ruled that the 'outrageous and intolerable actions' by the Attorney General's Office were unlawful and relied on unconstitutional statutes. Paxton's office appealed the decision directly to the Texas Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in January. Paxton and all the justices on the Texas Supreme Court are Republicans. Dominguez is a Democrat. Justice James Sullivan, who was appointed to the high court last year by Gov. Greg Abbott, did not participate in the decision. Supreme Court justices aren't required to explain reasons for recusing from cases. Annunciation House says it has operated in compliance with all laws and in accordance with Catholic teachings. Federal immigration agencies have long worked with the organization, which has operated for more than 40 years, to provide care for migrants after they are released by federal authorities. The shelter network said Paxton's request would give his office access to confidential records, and violated Annunciation House's religious freedom. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Yahoo
How the El Paso Walmart shooting prosecution cost $6 million, even without a trial
EL PASO, Texas (EL PASO MATTERS) — El Paso County taxpayers paid almost $4 million for the defense and $1.9 million for the prosecution of the man who gunned down 23 people and wounded 22 others at an El Paso Walmart in 2019, county records show. More than $2 million of that went to experts hired since 2019 by the defense team representing Patrick Crusius, now 26, who pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon last month after District Attorney James Montoya decided not to seek the death penalty. The gunman, who said he attacked the Cielo Vista Walmart in August 2019 to stop 'the Hispanic invasion of Texas,' was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Three defense attorneys – Joe Spencer, Felix Valenzuela and Mark Stevens – were paid a combined $602,000 over five years, according to the records, while defense investigators were paid more than $694,000. Another $688,000 was spent on 'miscellaneous' items, according to the records. The records showed that the prosecution spent $1.9 million between May 2022 and April 30, with those costs covered by state grants. Those costs were for lawyers and other employees of the District Attorney's Office, and didn't include costs for the police investigation of the attack. Spencer said defense attorneys were careful with expenses while committed to their ethical obligations to vigorously defend their client. Taxpayers paid for Crusius' defense because he was found to be indigent and unable to pay for his own defense. 'We were very cognizant from the very beginning that this case was going to be scrutinized as to how much attorneys fees were paid. So, we were very careful, very conservative. I know, personally, I didn't charge for all the hours that I put in,' he said in an interview with El Paso Matters. Montoya couldn't immediately be reached for comment by El Paso Matters. Spencer said the defense costs increased substantially because of efforts by former District Attorney Yvonne Rosales to recuse 409th District Judge Sam Medrano from the case, which included disclosures of extensive prosecutorial misconduct by Rosales and her associates. She resigned in December 2022. 'How much time did we spend on the Rosales shenanigans, as well as the motion to recuse Judge Medrano, which was all frivolous?' Spencer said. County records showed that the defense and prosecution spent more than $300,000 in fiscal year 2022, when there was essentially no movement in the mass shooting prosecution aside from efforts related to allegations of misconduct by Rosales and her associates. Spencer said former District Attorney Bill Hicks also added to the costs by providing massive amounts of case material known as discovery in ways that were difficult for defense lawyers to analyze. Most of fiscal years 2023 and 2024 were spent arguing pretrial motions centered on defense allegations of prosecutorial misconduct by the Rosales and Hicks administrations. County records showed that the defense and prosecution spent a combined $3.2 million on the case in those years. Spencer said the costs would have escalated if Montoya hadn't decided to end pursuit of the death penalty, which allowed for a plea agreement. He said the defense team had made it clear shortly after the Walmart attack that their client would plead guilty if the death penalty was off the table. 'We went to the state very early on and said, 'Let's resolve this case. We don't need to try this case.' But they were interested in the death penalty. As long as that was the case, we were in for the long haul,' Spencer said. Cases that include the possibility of the death penalty are expensive to prosecute because the stakes are high. A 1992 report by the Dallas Morning News said the average Texas death penalty case cost $2.3 million to prosecute – an amount that equals $5.3 million in 2025 dollars. The costs provided by the county are for the state prosecution of Crusius. He also pleaded guilty in a separate federal case on hate crimes and weapons charges, receiving 90 consecutive life sentences. The federal public defender's office is generating a summary of defense costs as part of an effort by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama to unseal records in the federal case. That summary is expected to be available this summer. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Yahoo
What you need to know about the guilty plea and sentencing of the Walmart mass shooter
EL PASO, Texas (EL PASO MATTERS) — The North Texas man who has acknowledged that he killed 23 people and wounded 22 others in an anti-Hispanic attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 will plead guilty Monday, more than five years after the mass shooting. Patrick Crusius, now 26, of Allen, Texas, is the most lethal mass shooter to ever face justice in a U.S. courtroom. The nation has experienced five deadlier mass shootings than the Walmart shooting on Aug. 3, 2019, but those gunmen either took their own lives or were killed by police. The gunman agreed to a guilty plea last month after District Attorney James Montoya decided not to seek the death penalty in the case, saying that most of the families of those killed wanted the prosecution to come to a quick conclusion. Here's what you need to know about what will happen Monday. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. in Judge Sam Medrano's 409th District Court, on the fourth floor of the Enrique Moreno El Paso County Courthouse. The proceedings are expected to go throughout the day and may continue into the week, depending on how many victims and survivors of those killed wish to address the gunman. The first order of business will be for the gunman to formally plead guilty. Medrano likely will ask a series of questions to ensure the defendant is aware of the consequences of his guilty plea, and that he is doing so voluntarily. The defendant is not required to explain his actions, or the reasons behind them. After the guilty plea, Medrano will formally sentence Crusius to life in prison without parole, the maximum available sentence for capital murder once prosecutors opted against seeking the death penalty. The plea and sentencing are expected to take about 90 minutes. After the gunman is sentenced, people who were victims of the crime can address the court and the defendant to explain how the attack affected their lives. More than 40 people have requested to give statements, officials from the District Attorney's Office said. When the gunman pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes and weapons charges in July 2023, emotionally charged victim impact statements took up parts of three days. Medrano will continue hearing impact statements until all victims wishing to speak have been heard, and will not impose a time limit on statements. Courts are open to the public, but seating is limited. Much of the seating for this hearing is expected to be taken up by shooting victims, the families of those killed, and media. The judge is allowing cameras in the courtroom during the plea and sentencing. El Paso Matters and other media will livestream the hearing on websites Monday morning. Judge Medrano will not permit video or still photography during the victim impact statements to protect the privacy of the victims. The gunman pleaded guilty in 2023 to federal weapons and hate crimes charges stemming from the Walmart attack, and was sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. After Monday, he also will face a sentence of life without parole in the Texas state prison system. He currently is in state custody in the El Paso County jail in Downtown El Paso, where he has been held since shortly after the mass shooting. The Federal Bureau of Prisons told El Paso Matters that he will serve his life sentences in a state prison because the state initially arrested and detained him. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has several maximum security prisons where the Walmart gunman could be housed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Long-standing mental health issues preceded Walmart mass shooting, defense attorney says
This is the second of a two-part series on issues defense attorneys might have raised if Patrick Crusius had gone to trial for the 2019 Walmart mass shooting. Previously: Patrick Crusius believed he was fulfilling Trump's wishes in El Paso attack, his attorney says EL PASO, Texas (EL PASO MATTERS) — Patrick Crusius showed symptoms of mental illness beginning in childhood, culminating in a 'psychotic event' that led him to kill 23 people and wound 22 others in a 2019 mass shooting in El Paso, his defense attorney told El Paso Matters. 'We had found out that virtually from birth, there's been documentation of his mental illness. He had a twin sister (and) it was very clear that he did not develop as quickly as she did, with his ability to speak, with his ability to walk, with his ability to crawl, his ability to communicate,' defense attorney Joe Spencer said in an interview Tuesday, the day District Attorney James Montoya announced he wouldn't seek the death penalty in the mass killing. 'We also have both of his parents that have a history of mental illness and have been on antipsychotic medication for over 40 years,' Spencer said. He said defense lawyers raised mental health issues to block attempts to put Crusius to death, not to excuse his violent actions. 'Certainly, the mental health issues he has is not an excuse for his conduct, but it is part of his life that he grew up with and part of his family, who also suffers from mental illness. That is a contributing factor to the horrific carnage that Patrick caused,' Spencer said. With the death penalty off the table, Crusius is expected to plead guilty April 21 to state charges of capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He will be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Crusius also faces 90 consecutive life terms in federal prison after guilty pleas to weapons and hate crime charges. The guilty plea and sentencing will bring an end to a court process that has moved at a slow pace since Crusius drove 10 hours from his home in the suburban North Texas town of Allen on Aug. 3, 2019, and opened fire outside and inside the Walmart next to Cielo Vista Mall. The attack – which Crusius said in an online screed was meant to stop 'the Hispanic invasion of Texas' – shattered a predominately Hispanic community with an extended history of low crime rates. Although the broad outlines of the attack are well known, much of the detail has never been shared with the public because no trial was ever held and police records remain off-limits to the public and media as long as criminal charges are pending. Spencer, one of the three primary attorneys representing Crusius in federal and state court, has spoken sparingly about the case outside of courtrooms. He agreed to an interview with El Paso Matters on Tuesday, when 409th District Judge Sam Medrano lifted a gag order he had imposed on lawyers in the case in 2022. In the interview, he detailed Crusius' mental health history, his radicalization in the online world of white supremacist extremism, his purchase of a semiautomatic rifle, and his decision to wreak unspeakable terror on El Paso. Crusius' mental health history would have played a key role if a jury had been asked to decide whether to sentence him to death. Jurors would have been asked to decide whether his mental health history would be a 'mitigating factor' that would lead to his life being spared. In a news conference Tuesday, Montoya said he believed that prosecutors could have convinced a jury to sentence Crusius to death, but added that a single juror could have objected and forced a life sentence. He said the process could take years, and most families of those killed who he spoke to since taking office in January favored a quick resolution to a criminal case that had already dragged on for more than five years. 'I feel confident we would have succeeded in obtaining a death verdict had we gotten to that point. We just don't know how much longer that would have taken,' Montoya said. Spencer said the defense was prepared to argue that Crusius' life should be spared because of his extensive mental health history. At a federal sentencing in 2023, Spencer and the prosecution said Crusius had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a mental health condition characterized by auditory and visual hallucinations and mood disorders. Most people with schizophrenia are not violent, mental health experts say, but the illness can increase the chance of violence in some people. Spencer said Crusius had not history of violence prior to the mass shooting. 'We hired several psychiatrists and psychologists. They did evaluations on Patrick to make a determination as to what his current state is. We even hired a forensic psychiatrist who is typically a government witness, because we wanted to have someone that is not defense-oriented or someone that the prosecution might claim was bought and sold by the defense,' he said. 'That is a singular, isolated incident, psychotic event that Patrick had,' Spencer said. He said there never was a question of Crusius' guilt in the attack. 'One of the first things he said, besides telling me he's not a racist, is, 'Why do I need a lawyer? I'm guilty.' And he wanted to immediately plead. But I said, 'Patrick we've got to wait. You can't plead to the death penalty, and you can't plead guilty at an arraignment.' That's what he wanted to do,' Spencer said. The defense attorney had said repeatedly in court that Crusius would quickly plead guilty if prosecutors would agree not to seek a death sentence. Federal prosecutors agreed to do so in 2023, but former district attorneys Yvonne Rosales and Bill Hicks would not take him up on the offer. Montoya, who took office in January, agreed to do so. Spencer said he has seen no evidence that anyone else was involved in the attack, which was captured by several security cameras in the Walmart. Shortly before walking into the Walmart, Crusius posted what he called a 'manifesto' on 8Chan, an online chat platform that attracted white supremacists and white nationalists. Spencer said Crusius' family was skeptical he had the ability to write such a document, but the attorney believes he largely copied the text from other sources. 'This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas,' the manifesto said. The tropes Crusius cited in his manifesto – that immigration constituted an invasion, and that large-scale migration was part of a 'great replacement' of white people with Hispanics and other immigrants – were largely confined in 2019 to dark corners of the internet frequented by white nationalist extremists. But in the years since, those views have become more mainstream. A 2024 poll by the University of Massachusetts found that 73% of self-identified Republicans believed one of the key tenets of the great replacement theory, that 'some elected officials want to increase immigration in order to bring in obedient voters who will vote for them.' An NPR/IPSOS Poll earlier this year found that 80% of Republican voters believe the United States is experiencing an invasion at the southern border. Montoya said hatred of Hispanics drove Crusius to attack El Paso. 'I think he is filled with hate in his heart. I think that the beliefs that he harbors that motivated him to come here and commit the worst terrorist attacks against Latinos, against Hispanics in the United States, I think that is what makes him dangerous, harboring those beliefs,' the district attorney said. Spencer said he doesn't believe Crusius is a racist, but that he was radicalized by online exposure to white nationalist extremism beginning in late 2018 or early 2019. He said evidence gathered by the FBI found that Crusius was involved in extremist online forums such as 4Chan and 8Chan. 'He lived in this little world of his computer, and he got on some of those channels that are what I call the dark web. He didn't have a friend. He didn't have a girlfriend. He lived in that computer,' the attorney said. Spencer said Crusius was a lurker in the chats. 'Although he never engaged with any conversation with them, he did read it. He was there. His whole world was in his computer because he just was socially in it,' he said. Those conversations, as well as statements by President Trump about immigration, led to the El Paso massacre, Spencer said. In June 2019, after five or six months immersed in white nationalist hate sites, Crusius purchased a Romanian-made semiautomatic rifle online and had it delivered to a gun store in his hometown of Allen, according to court records. The weapon was a WASR-10, the civilian version of an AK-47-style rifle used by the Romanian military. Crusius was 20 at the time, and the legal age for purchasing a rifle in Texas is 18. Crusius was living with his mother, who became concerned when she learned he had purchased a rifle, Spencer said. 'As soon as it comes to his house and his mother realizes he ordered this AK-47, she calls the Allen Police Department. … And she tells the Allen Police Department, My son is mentally ill. My son should not have this rifle. Could you all come and get it?' the attorney said. Lawyers for the Crusius family have said the mother was told by police that it was legal for him to own the weapon. The lawyers also said the mother was concerned about her son owning the weapon because of his age, maturity level and lack of experience handling such a firearm. She did not tell the police her name or her son's name. Spencer said the gun was a source of tension in the house, and the mother kicked out the son. 'He goes to his grandfather's house. His grandfather tells him, 'I'm going to give you three choices, Patrick. I will buy the rifle from you; you will send the rifle back; or you will turn it over to the police department. But if you're going to keep the rifle, you are not going to stay here,'' the attorney said. 'Patrick said he was going to keep the rifle, and his father thought it was a good bonding experience, so he moves in with his father, who's unstable,' Spencer said. When he turned 21 on July 27, 2019, Crusius wrote a note 'and tells his family that he expects that he's going to die. And that to forgive him for what he's going to do,' his attorney said. 'Then we know shortly after that, he came down here.' El Paso is a 650-mile drive from Allen. North Texas, where Crusius lived, featured numerous immigrant communities that he could have targeted. Border communities like Eagle Pass and Laredo were 200 miles closer to his home. So why attack El Paso? 'He thought that if he left Allen, Texas, and he came to El Paso, then his family would never know what he did,' Spencer said. 'So that tells you how naive he is and … (the) confusion that he had in his brain as to how he thought he could just drive to El Paso and nobody in Texas would know.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Patrick Crusius believed he was fulfilling Trump's wishes in El Paso attack, his attorney says
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first of a two-part series from El Paso Matters on issues defense attorneys might have raised if Patrick Crusius had gone to trial for the 2019 Walmart mass shooting. Coming Monday: Long-standing mental health issues preceded Walmart mass shooting, defense attorney says EL PASO, Texas (EL PASO MATTERS) — Patrick Crusius believed he was acting at the direction of President Donald Trump when he murdered 23 people and wounded 22 others at an El Paso Walmart in 2019, his defense lawyer told El Paso Matters. 'He thought he had to stop the invasion because that's what his president was telling him, which is just not rational,' defense attorney Joe Spencer said in his first extended interview about the mass shooting that Crusius said was meant to stop 'the Hispanic invasion of Texas.' 'He thought, if he doesn't do it, then nobody's going to do it. He's got to start,' Spencer said. The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment from El Paso Matters. On Aug. 5, 2019, two days after the El Paso shooting, Trump condemned the attack and the motives behind it: 'The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online consumed by racist hate. In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America.' Trump visited El Paso on Aug. 7, ignoring pleas from much of El Paso's elected leadership that he stay away because they felt his rhetoric may have played a role in the shooting. Although numerous Trump critics said his constant anti-immigration rhetoric played a role in the El Paso shooting – an accusation Trump supporters have denied – Crusius and his defense team have not previously addressed whether Trump's words played a role in motivating the gunman. Crusius, now 26, is expected to plead guilty April 21 to charges of capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. District Attorney James Montoya announced on Tuesday that state prosecutors would no longer seek the death penalty, meaning Crusius will be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. He also has been sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms after pleading guilty to federal weapons and hate crime charges. Spencer has not made extensive public comments on the case outside of the courtroom, in part because of directives issued by federal and state judges. He agreed to an interview with El Paso Matters on Tuesday, after 409th District Judge Sam Medrano dissolved a gag order he put in place in 2022. In the interview, Spencer detailed Crusius' mental health history – he repeatedly said his client had 'a broken brain' – and the gunman's deepening spiral into extremist white nationalist websites such as 4Chan and 8Chan in 2018 and 2019. He said Crusius has a history of mental illness dating to childhood and has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, an illness characterized by auditory and visual hallucinations. Spencer said Crusius told him that a key event leading to the murderous rampage in El Paso occurred in May 2019 in Panama City Beach, Florida, when Trump spoke at a rally. 'I mean, you have 15,000 people marching up and you have hundreds and hundreds of people and you have two or three border security people that are brave and great,' Trump said, then added falsely that Border Patrol agents weren't allowed to use weapons. 'But how do you stop these people?' Trump said. 'Shoot them,' someone in the audience shouted, drawing laughter from the crowd and a smile from the president. 'That's only in the (Florida) Panhandle you can get away with that statement,' Trump said while shaking his head. 'Only in the Panhandle.' Crusius said he saw video of that Trump rally and was motivated to act, Spencer said. In June 2019, a month after the Florida Trump rally, Crusius purchased a semiautomatic rifle online and had it delivered to a gun dealer in his hometown of Allen, Texas, near Dallas, according to court records. On Aug. 3, 2019, Crusius drove 10 hours from Allen to El Paso, and attacked the Walmart with the semiautomatic rifle, records show. When you're a person with a 'broken brain' hearing comments like those from Trump, 'you think you're getting direction from your commander in chief that you've got to stop the invasion,' Spencer said. Christine Reyna, a psychology professor at DePaul University in Chicago who researches white nationalist extremism, said desensitizing or dehumanizing rhetoric – especially from authority figures – can inspire violence in isolated, vulnerable young people undergoing radicalization online, regardless of their mental health. She said mental illness is not a contributor to most acts of extremist violence. 'That vulnerability can make a person desperate for a last grand act or an act of glory or an act of heroism in their mind. And in the case of Crusius, if he feels like, 'I could be this noble warrior in this cause to save America that the president is calling for,' he may be just vulnerable enough,' Reyna said. In his 'manifesto' posted on the extremist chat forum 8Chan shortly before the attack, Crusius said people would try to link Trump to the attack, but denied that was the case. 'I am putting this here because some people will blame the president or certain presidential candidates for the attack. This is not the case. I know that the media will probably call me a white supremacist anyway and blame Trump's rhetoric. The media is infamous for fake news. Their reaction to this attack will likely just confirm that,' Crusius wrote. Spencer said he believes Crusius compiled the manifesto largely by copying and pasting text from other sources. But he said Crusius resisted answering his questions about the manifesto, including Trump's impact on his beliefs and actions. 'He was not comfortable going there. I remember at one point I even suggested, you know, we may have to subpoena Trump, and boy, he did not like that at all. So I left that subject matter alone. I said we'll deal with that at another time if we ever have to,' he said. Spencer said Crusius sometimes shapes his statements out of concern for what people might think of him. For example, Crusius would answer mental health questions from clinicians at the El Paso County jail differently from what he told defense psychiatrists and psychologists. 'I said, Patrick, when they come and visit you from the jail and they ask you, are you seeing things, are you hearing things, and you say no, no, no. Why do you tell them no? 'Well, I don't want them to think I'm crazy.'' Spencer said the influence of extremist rhetoric, and Trump's frequent description of unauthorized border crossings as an 'invasion,' don't excuse Crusius' culpability in mass murder. But he said the El Paso shooting is a painful reminder that political speech can lead to violent consequences, and he believes Trump bears responsibility in the shooting. 'I absolutely believe that words matter, and especially someone who's a … president of the United States. When he makes a statement like that, he should be very careful of how it's going to be received, not only by those of us that are rational, but by those of us that are not, that think that this is a message from the president,' he said. Spencer is a longtime donor to Democratic political candidates, especially in El Paso judicial races. He said his views on Trump's responsibility aren't shaped by partisan beliefs. 'I am a Democrat, but I just follow the evidence. My position on why Patrick did what he did is based on the review of all the evidence and the hundreds of hours that I've had visiting with Patrick and all of the experts about his thoughts,' he said. Reyna, the DePaul sociology professor who researches white nationalism, said what was viewed in 2019 as extremist rhetoric on immigration has become more mainstream in conservative politics and media. She pointed to the 'great replacement theory,' which holds that malign forces are bringing immigrants into the United States and other Western countries to replace white people. Crusius invoked the great replacement – a common trope in 2019 in the darkest corners of the internet – in his manifesto. In the years since the attack, the conspiracy theory has been increasingly prominent among conservative media figures like Tucker Carlson, and among some right-wing politicians, Reyna said. 'The idea of the great replacement becomes much more mainstream, and that's extremely dangerous,' she said. Dehumanization of certain groups has long been a tool used by authoritarian governments, she said, and that approach resonates with white nationalist extremists. 'When you dehumanize the target, what you do is you exclude them from consideration. They do not deserve your moral care. And then, you harm them as existential threats,' Reyna said. Increasing and normalizing anti-immigrant rhetoric that seemed extreme when used by Crusius before his attack increases the risk of further violence on immigrant and Hispanic communities, she said. Potential white nationalist terrorists are further emboldened by Trump's pardons for people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to Reyna. 'Because what that signal is, is that if you commit violence on my behalf, you're going to get a pass,' Reyna said. As part of her research, Reyna monitors online conversations among white nationalists, where Crusius is frequently invoked. 'He's one of the big heroes now. … Crusius is one of the icons. Then the question is, who's going to be the next person to be the next hero. And that's what's frightening,' Reyna said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
