Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersThe Hill's Campaign Report: Trump faces backlash after not committing to peaceful transition of power Bernie Sanders: 'This is an election between Donald Trump and democracy' The Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump stokes fears over November election outcome MORE (I-Vt.) joined his fellow presidential candidate, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), in saying President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE should “stay away from El Paso,” Texas, following a mass shooting in the city that left 22 dead and dozens of others injured.

“I agree with Beto,” Sanders told SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah on Tuesday. “It gives me no pleasure to say this, but we do have a president who is an overt racist, who is a sexist, who is a xenophobe, who thinks that he can win votes by demonizing one group of people or another.”

"He should stay away from El Paso."



2020 Democratic candidate @BernieSanders tells @DeanObeidallah that the President should focus on fixing his racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric before appearing in a city reeling from mass gun violence targeting Hispanics. pic.twitter.com/23hHTzV9NF — SiriusXM Progress (@SXMProgress) August 6, 2019

Police have tied the suspect in the shooting to a racist, anti-immigrant manifesto posted online shortly before the shooting, in which the author rails against what he calls a Hispanic “invasion.”

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“There is no question in my mind that [Trump’s] anti-immigrant sentiment and his racism create a climate where unstable people are capable of doing horrific deeds, as we saw in El Paso,” Sanders said.

“If the president is serious about wanting to do something, he should stay away from El Paso, and what he should do right now is end this anti-immigrant rhetoric, his racist rhetoric,” Sanders added, citing Trump telling four progressive minority congresswomen to “go back” to other countries.

Several other Democratic presidential candidates have also accused Trump, who has also used “invasion” rhetoric in relation to immigrants, of contributing to the climate that led to the shooting, most notably O’Rourke, who left the campaign trail to return to his hometown following the massacre.

Trump lashed out at O’Rourke Wednesday morning in response, tweeting that he “should respect the victims & law enforcement - & be quiet!" Trump is scheduled to visit both El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, the site of a separate shooting in the early hours of Sunday morning that killed nine, on Wednesday.