Officials Weigh In On President Trump’s State Of The Union Comments About El Paso

The State of the Union Address was last night, and President Trump had local leaders rushing to react to his statement that El Paso was once considered one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S., and that the only thing that saved us was the section of border wall that was built in 2008.

In 2005, 2006 and 2007, before the 57-mile fence was built, El Paso's violent crime rate was among the lowest in the country. FBI crime data shows from 2006 to 2011 — two years before the fence was built to two years after — the number of recorded violent crimes in El Paso increased by 17 percent.

State Senator Jose Rodriguez also took the president to task:
The president lied again about El Paso. I will not repeat the lie, but will state the truth: El Paso has low crime rates, and has since the early 1990s. It is past time for elected officials to stop lying about the border, and about immigrants. Texas leaders have an obligation to stand up for Texas communities. El Paso and other border communities are economic and cultural engines, contributing to the prosperity of Texas and the United States.

Jon Barela, CEO of The Borderplex Alliance, which helps bring awareness about El Paso to the business community and tourists, had this to say about Trump's El Paso comments:
"The President's false comments about El Paso and the border are detrimental to business development and job creation. El Paso was safe long before the wall was built. While we all support border security, using false data and misinformation does a disservice to all Americans and limits economic growth for our region and our country."

Those of us who have lived in El Paso our whole lives know the national narrative about our city is a lot of nonsense. Our excellent law enforcement community and strong family ties help keep our city safe. It would be nice if the people who are talking smack about us actually took the time to come down here and see how safe we really are. But until then, we just need to continue showing the world what a great place El Paso is!