POLITICS

Trump's claim about El Paso crime rate in State of the Union was a 'sucker punch'

Madlin Mekelburg
El Paso Times

AUSTIN — The reference to El Paso by President Donald Trump during Tuesday's State of the Union felt like a sucker punch to the stomach for U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar.

Trump used El Paso as an example of a safe city to bolster his argument for constructing a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He said the city was among the most dangerous in the country before fencing was erected, a claim that has been found to be false in fact checks by the El Paso Times and other news outlets.

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U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, had a "candid" talk with Heather Wilson after she was picked by the UT System Board of Regents to replace Diana Natalicio as UTEP president.

Escobar, the freshman Democrat from El Paso who was attending her first State of the Union since replacing former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, said her colleagues immediately turned to look at her when the president cited the city she represents as part of his pitch for the border wall.

"We all are extremely loyal to this community and communicating the truth about the border and to see him on the national stage doing that absolutely felt like a sucker punch," Escobar told the El Paso Times after the speech.

In his speech, Trump said El Paso was considered one of the nation's most dangerous cities before the fencing. 

"Now, immediately upon its building, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of the safest cities in our country," Trump said.

The White House has previously tried to make this claim about El Paso, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton shared a similar comment with Trump during his visit to Texas in early January.

But a fact check by the El Paso Times shows that the crime rate was decreasing in El Paso before the fencing.

Trump's comments about El Paso touched a nerve with leaders from the city, most of whom have spent their entire political careers singing the praises of a community they see as overlooked and misunderstood.

Escobar, a staunch opponent of the president's proposed border wall, immediately posted on social media that the president had lied.

“A lot of folks around me turned around when he said that and said, ‘that’s not true, that’s not true’,” Escobar said in an interview. “People who recognize the fact that he is not a credible person and who have heard the El Paso story before know it isn’t true.”

Escobar was not the only El Paso leader to refute the president's comments. 

El Paso Mayor Dee Margo

Mayor Dee Margo and Jon Barela, chief executive officer of the Borderplex Alliance, who are Republican, raised concerns about the claim. 

"El Paso was NEVER one of the MOST dangerous cities in the US," Margo wrote on Twitter. "We've had a fence for 10 years and it has impacted illegal immigration and curbed criminal activity. It is NOT the sole deterrent."

Barela said he has concerns about the economic impact for El Paso when a false perception of danger or high crime is perpetuated by people in power. 

He said he also feels hurt on a personal level. 

Jon Barela, CEO of the Borderplex Alliance in El Paso.

“It’s offensive to imply that our community was made safe because of a fence,” he said. “We are safe because of our culture, our way of life, our law enforcement dedication and the fact that economic opportunity has been created on both sides of the border."

El Paso has had different forms of fencing, but the claim made most recently by the president is typically shared in reference to the Secure Fence Act passed in 2006 under President George W. Bush. The fence funded by the act was constructed in El Paso between 2008 and 2009.

Violent crime in El Paso fell dramatically between 1993 and 2006, when it started to climb again. 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, according to Uniform Crime Reports from the FBI.

“It really feels like Groundhog Day, in that we continue to have to reiterate that El Paso has always been a safe community,” Escobar said. “It’s very frustrating, it’s very damaging to the community and it is obviously a flat-out lie.”

“The president does us a tremendous amount of damage by mischaracterizing us,” she said.

The U.S. Border Patrol along with ICE trained in January  2019, along the border fence in Anapra to prepare for any border surges that may occur.

More:Fact check: Trump says El Paso among most dangerous cities until fence

State Rep. César Blanco, a Democrat, lives yards away from the fence in El Paso. He credits law enforcement and the community for the city's safety. Outside of El Paso, he said, people have trouble grasping that fact.

“When I travel, wherever I’m at, people ask, ‘how dangerous is it down there?’” he said. “They have no idea. They have no concept of our lives on the border.”

State Rep. César Blanco, D-El Paso

Blanco said El Paso is hurt each time inaccurate claims are repeated on a national stage.

"When you have hospitals trying to recruit physicians and one of the first things that pops up when they Google El Paso is all of these border security stories," Blanco said, "it hurts our ability to recruit professionals and keep professionals in El Paso. It hurts our ability for businesses to come and invest and industry to come and invest."

This wasn't the first time the White House pointed to El Paso to suggest that a wall could be effective. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made a similar claim in 2018 while sharing an article on Twitter. 

The claim also surfaced during a roundtable discussion between Trump and Texas leaders in McAllen earlier this year. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told the president that crime rates in El Paso fell dramatically after a fence was constructed under Bush.

State Sen. José Rodríguez, D-El Paso, said elected leaders have a responsibility to correct the record.

"It is past time for elected officials to stop lying about the border and about immigrants," Rodríguez said in a statement. "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."

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Madlin Mekelburg is a reporter with the USA Today Network Austin Bureau; she may be reached at 512-479-6606; mmekelburg@elpasotimes.com; @madlinbmek on Twitter.