Discussion held on how to counter the 'border is dangerous' narrative

Rio Grande Guardian's Podcast

EDINBURG, Texas - A discussion was held recently on what can be done to fight back against the narrative that the border region is dangerous.

The discussion took place on a zoom hosted by Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez and the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force.

Former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos was invited to talk about the work of the Borderplex Alliance, which works to bring new investment to El Paso, Texas, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and Las Cruces, New Mexico. Pablos used to lead this organization and devised its business model.

Pablos was asked about the negative press the border region gets. South Texas College’s dean of liberal arts, Christopher Nelson, started the conversation.

“How willing are all of us going to be to sort of galvanize a counter narrative to what everyone else, everywhere else in the country is saying about this region?” Nelson asked.

Nelson said the narrative the border region is saddled with is extraordinary.

“It's a war zone. It's a terrible place to live. Crime is rampant. They're shooting fentanyl at each other with BB guns.,” Nelson said.

“Having lived here 20 years this is a fantastic place. (It is great) to live one of the safest places in the world to live. The border is not a problem to us that live on it.”

However, Nelson said, Governor Greg Abbott does not seem to agree.

“And the rest of the country, following the lead of that kind of rhetoric doesn't seem to think so either. So did you deliberately address that in your marketing,” Nelson asked Pablos, referring to his leadership of Borderplex.

Pablos responded: “So, quick anecdote. We discovered very quickly that the staff on Capitol Hill in Washington in charge of advising members of Congress about the border have never been to the border. They don't even know what the border looks like.”

As an education exercise, Pablos said, Borderplex started inviting the staffers to El Paso, couple at a time.

“You're absolutely right,” Pablos told Nelson. “They think that the cartels are overriding us. They think that we're a war zone.”

The biggest challenge, Pablos said, was convincing members of Congress that they would not die if they crossed into Ciudad Juárez.

“As a matter of fact, we took Senator Cornyn and his wife to Juarez. We walked downtown… just to prove to the world that Juarez was safe, right. So, you have to get clever.”

Border members of Congress can help educate their colleagues in Washington, Pablos said.

“On the private sector level, we engaged the U.S. Chamber, we engaged the trade organizations to also get that message out. And so it's a multifaceted approach,” Pablos said.

“But, you (STC’s Nelson) are absolutely right. The problem is that we start out as a deficit because of the perception that has been created about us, about the border itself. And people who don't understand the border, you can tell them it's the safest place, it’s the greatest place to raise a family. (But) you have to sell it, you have to get out there and that's the challenge. But again, coming together and having one unified voice will get the job done.”

Here is an audio recording of the exchange between Nelson and Pablos.

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