San Antonio Congressman Joaquin Castro announced his decision to bring Priscilla Martinez as a guest to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday.
Priscilla Martinez’s husband, 35 year old Aaron Martinez, was allegedly killed last year in Kaufman County by a neighbor, Trevor McEuen, who had expressed anti-Latino sentiments at the couple.
Castro said he hoped Martinez’s presence brings attention to white supremacy, xenophobia and hate — and the connection between current anti-immigrant sentiments in politics and violence toward migrants.
“The more right wing lies that are told to incite fear and resentment about immigrants — that is going to affect the Latino community,” Castro said. “That puts a target on the backs of Latinos. So I expect that we will likely see, unfortunately, more hate crimes because of that.”
Martinez told TPR that McEuen repeatedly harassed her family and told them Latinos and immigrants were not welcome in Kaufman County.
“He came over here at a very young age,” said Martinez about her husband Aaron. “You know, just like any other Mexican or Latino person that wants to come over here for the American dream. And his dream was taken away from him.”
McEuen was charged with murder in the incident and remains in custody.
Castro and the family call for hate crime charges in the incident, which Castro said may require involvement from federal prosecutors.
