Last Monday, local police announced that they were investigating an assault on Mahud Villalaz that happened over the weekend: A man approached Villalaz on the street and reportedly threw battery acid in his face. Now a U.S. citizen, the 42-year-old Villalaz came to the U.S. from Peru 19 years ago. The attacker repeatedly insulted Villalaz, accused him of being an "illegal," and told him to "go back to your country." Per The New York Times:

Mr. Villalaz, an American citizen who came to the United States from Peru 19 years ago, said the episode began when he parked near the taqueria and was confronted by the man about how close his pickup truck was to a bus stop. Mr. Villalaz returned to his vehicle and moved it about a block away. As he walked toward the restaurant again, he said, the man said, "You came here to invade." A nearby surveillance camera captured video of the attack, showing a man splashing a liquid onto the left side of Mr. Villalaz’s face.

Villalaz rushed to the restaurant bathroom to wash his face off, and while that may have helped to minimize the damage, he still has second-degree burns on half of his face.

Police have reportedly arrested a 61-year-old white man in connection with the attack, but as of Monday no charges had been filed. Speaking to reporters, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett said, "This anger towards people from other countries is being fed by our president and by his followers. What we saw over the weekend is a manifestation of that anger." He added, "The victim is a United States citizen. He has as much right to be here as any one of us."

Of course, even if Villalaz were in the country illegally, there was no justification for an acid attack. This latest assault is part of a growing wave of anti-immigrant violence in the U.S., particularly directed at Hispanics. The FBI's latest report on hate-crime statistics found that the 7,175 anti-immigrant crimes in 2017 represented a 17 percent increase over 2016, which in turn saw a relatively modest increase of six percent from 2015.

The Anti-Defamation League released a report late last year warning that "extreme views on immigrants and refugees have moved from the margins to being a centerpiece of the U.S. political debate." According to the ADL, anti-immigrant organizations like the innocuous-sounding FAIR (Federation for Immigration Reform) and the Center for Immigration Studies and white supremacist groups share some of the same ideology, while the latter also folds in anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories. In the past year, multiple mass shooters have cited anti-immigrant paranoia and rhetoric as the impetus for their violent actions. They include last year's Pittsburgh synagogue attacker, who killed 11, and the man who opened fire at an El Paso Walmart earlier this year, killing 22.

While little is known about Villalaz's attacker as of yet, his reported quotes are reminiscent of Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric. The president has made anti-immigrant hysteria a centerpiece of his political project. Previously, he demanded that multiple non-white Congresswomen "go back" to their countries, despite the fact that they are U.S. citizens. Earlier this year, it came out that his campaign referred to "invasion" in more than 2,000 targeted Facebook ads.

Villalaz told The New York Times that his sons, ages seven and five, were traumatized by his experience. "The younger one started crying and said, 'Why would somebody do this to you, Daddy, when you did nothing to him?' How do you explain this to a little boy?"