Trump heads to El Paso to push for border wall
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to hold a campaign rally in El Paso on Monday as he negotiates with Democrats to head off another partial government shutdown over money for a border wall.
The rally, announced Wednesday, will involve Trump’s second trip to Texas since last month, when he went to McAllen on an official presidential visit to support his push for a border wall, a central promise of his 2016 campaign.
As in McAllen, a host of Democratic officials from El Paso assailed the move, saying Trump has inaccurately portrayed the border region as dangerous and crime-ridden.
The rally at El Paso County Coliseum will take place four days before a Feb. 15 deadline to break an impasse with Democratic leaders in Congress who oppose his $5.7 billion request. Trump called out El Paso on Tuesday night in his State of the Union address, holding it up as a community that had benefited from a border barrier.
“Simply put, walls work and walls save lives,” Trump said in his address to Congress, citing the example of El Paso. “So let’s work together, compromise, and reach a deal that will truly make America safe.”
His campaign doubled down on the border crime narrative Wednesday.
“As the president continues his fight to secure our border, there’s no better place to demonstrate that walls work than in El Paso,” said Michael Glassner, chief operating officer for the Trump campaign. “President Trump looks forward to visiting with the patriots of Texas who are on the front lines of the struggle against open border Democrats who allow drugs, crime, and sex trafficking all along our border every day.”
But local El Paso officials, including former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a potential 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful, argue the city was one of the safest in America before and after border barriers were built.
FBI uniform crime reports show El Paso, with a population of about 700,000, has experienced fewer violent crimes than similar-sized cities such as Tucson and Tulsa, Okla. Its crime rate is below the national average, the FBI reports.
Violent crimes in the city have plunged since the 1990s, long before the wall was built in 2009. The number of murders peaked at 56 in 1993 and typically have been at 20 a year or below since 2000.
“El Paso was NEVER one of the MOST dangerous cities in the US,” El Paso Mayor Dee Margo, a Republican and longtime businessman, tweeted. “We’ve had a fence for 10 years and it has impacted illegal immigration and curbed criminal activity. It is NOT the sole deterrent. Law enforcement in our community continues to keep us safe.”
Responding to Trump, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat, tweeted: “El Paso is a safe border community.”
State Rep. Cesar Blanco, a Democrat, called Trump’s political rally in El Paso “a slap in the face to our community.”
“This was ground zero for his family separation policies,” Blanco said. “This is where migrant children have died in the custody of his administration. As demonstrated in his State of the Union, this president is out of touch with reality.”
In a televised interview, El Paso Sheriff Richard Wiles also said Trump is promoting a false impression of the city.
“It is sad to hear President Trump state falsehoods about El Paso, in an attempt to justify the building of a 2,000-mile wall,” Wiles told NBC. “El Paso was a safe city long before a wall was built. President Trump continues to give a false narrative.”
In either case, El Paso is one of the few sites in Texas that could provide Trump with an impression of progress on his wall agenda. Current border barrier renovation contracts call for 4 new miles of steel bollard wall set to replace existing fencing.
Trump’s campaign said the El Paso rally will be the seventh he has held in Texas since he began his race for president in June 2015. His last Lone Star State rally was in Houston last October to campaign for Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.