Esteban Guzman, who was abused by woman in California, tells Guardian such incidents have become ‘increasingly regular’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A Latino man who was filmed being racially abused by a white California woman has said similar incidents have become “increasingly regular” since Donald Trump took office.

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Video of Esteban Guzman being verbally attacked by the unidentified woman has been watched more than a million times since it was shared early on Monday morning.

The footage shows the woman pointing her finger in Guzman’s face.

“Why do you hate us?” Guzman asks.

“Because you’re Mexicans,” the woman replies.

Guzman tells her “we’re honest people”.

“Yeah, rapists. And animals,” the woman says. “Drug dealers.”

The language closely echoes words used by Donald Trump during his campaign and since becoming president. Trump kicked off his campaign by claiming Mexicans seeking immigration were “rapists” and “drug dealers”.

In May Trump, discussing his administration’s efforts to deport “people trying to come in” to the US, said: “These aren’t people. These are animals,” Trump said.

Guzman, 27, works in construction on weekends to supplement his full-time job in IT as a systems administrator. He and his mother were clearing a yard in Running Springs, 80 miles east of Los Angeles, when the woman approached.

“She was yelling at my mom go back to Mexico,” Guzman told the Guardian.

Guzman said he was “afraid” for his mother’s safety when he approached.

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“I was like hey, what’s the problem? And she said we were all illegals,” Guzman said. “I told her: ‘I’m a United States citizen.’ And she obviously she didn’t believe me.”

Guzman said he had suffered racial abuse “all my life”, but said it had become more frequent since Donald Trump’s emergence on the political scene and use of racist rhetoric.

“Ever since last year it’s becoming increasingly more regular,” Guzman said.

“I think his speech gave everybody permission to call us those names and to think bad of us,” Guzman said. ““I know a lot of people that have had it said to them”