O’Rourke tells El Paso crowd there’s ‘nothing to be afraid of’

Democrat Beto O’Rourke told a hometown El Paso crowd that it’s time to “show the country that there is nothing to be afraid of when it comes to the U.S.-Mexico border.”

O’Rourke spoke Monday at a baseball stadium across the street from the arena from where President Donald Trump was promoting his U.S.-Mexico border wall. Cheers from Trump’s fans could be heard at the counter-protest.

O’Rourke says, “The judgment of history is looking back at this moment.” The former congressman is mulling a 2020 presidential run, and many in the crowd yelled for him to announce his candidacy. But O’Rourke said only, “This is where we make our stand.”

Police did not give official estimates on O’Rourke’s crowd size, but it appeared to exceed 5,000, in contrast to Trump’s estimate of a few hundred.

O’Rourke said El Paso, Texas, is “one of the safest cities in America – safe not because of walls but in spite of walls.”

The former congressman, who is considering a presidential run in 2020, says, “We are making a stand for the truth.” He says, “Walls do not save lives, walls end lives,” citing the danger to asylum seekers who are rejected by the U.S.