February 6, 2019--State of the Union: El Paso

During the 1990s, when with the Ford Foundation, I spent many days in El Paso working with the school district and the University of El Paso to fund their efforts to help more students than in the past enter and complete college.

I loved visiting. I enjoyed the diversity of the people and their energy. It felt as if the city had a sense of purpose and proudly was going about the business of improving the lives of all its citizens. Very much including those who crossed the border daily to work or go to school.

After my work day was over I wandered about the city looking for new places to visit and eat. Never once did I feel the sense of threat there that Trump talked about last night in the State of the Union address. And so this morning when I saw what the New York Times' fact-checkers said about El Paso I was not surprised. I quote what they wrote in its entirety--

Trump claimed--

“The border city of El Paso, Tex., used to have extremely high rates of violent crime — one of the highest in the entire country, and considered one of our nation’s most dangerous cities. Now, immediately upon its building, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of the safest cities in our country.” 

This is false--

El Paso was never one of the most dangerous cities in the United States, and crime has been declining in cities across the country — not just El Paso — for reasons that have nothing to do with border fencing. In 2008, before border barriers had been completed in El Paso, the city had the second-lowest violent crime rate among more than 20 similarly sized cities. In 2010, after the fencing went up, it held that place.