San Antonio's Joaquin Castro invites spouse of hate crime victim to State of the Union address

The spouse of a victim who was murdered in an alleged racially motivated hate crime last year will be U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro's, D-San Antonio, special guest at President Biden's State of the Union address next Thursday.

Aaron Martinez was shot multiple times and killed at his ranch in Forney, a rural suburb of Dallas, exactly 10 months ago. Family members, neighbors, and Castro maintain that Martinez's murder was racially motivated and that the suspect, Trevor McEuen, had made derogatory and threatening remarks towards Martinez in the months prior to the incident.

Martinez's spouse, Priscilla Martinez, will be attending the State of The Union next week to help raise awareness of the effects of Republican's hateful rhetoric directed at Latinos, Castro said.

"The actions and the rhetoric of our state and national leaders are empowering violent racists to believe that they can attack immigrants or people they believe to be immigrants, people who they believe look like immigrants, with impunity," Castro told reporters during a Friday afternoon press call. "That is what I believe, in part at least, led to Aaron's death. And unless we curb the spread of hate, I'm worried that his death won't be the last."

Castro has been among the most vocal critics of Gov. Greg Abbott and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's "migrant invasion" rhetoric, which he says emboldens white supremacists to commit acts of terror against minorities.

One such example Castro often cites is the 2019 mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart, in which a self-proclaimed white supremacist killed 23 mostly Hispanic victims in a racially motivated attack.

"You can't go around judging people just because of the color of their skin. I'm American. So, just because I'm brown, you're going to kill me just because I'm brown," Priscilla Martinez said of her husband's death. "That's not right. So, for this to take place really hurts. He was taken in such an ugly way and for nothing."

Despite calls from Castro and civil rights groups, prosecutors have not yet officially ruled Prisicilla's husband's death a hate crime, and a trial date has not yet been set.

Biden's State of the Union will air on most national tv news networks on Thursday, March 7, at 8 p.m. CST. Folks can also livestream Biden's speech.

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