EL PASO, Texas — President Donald Trump went to Texas to push his immigration policies but turned first to mocking Beto O’Rourke, the former Democratic congressman from Texas now mulling a presidential run, as the two held dueling rallies in El Paso on Monday evening. Trump has repeatedly pointed to El Paso to make his case that a border wall is necessary, claiming that barriers turned the city from one of the nation’s most dangerous to one of its safest. El Paso had a murder rate of less than half the national average in 2005, a year before the most recent expansion of its border fence. The Trump campaign released a video showing El Paso residents saying the wall helped reduce crime. But many in the city have bristled at the prospect of becoming a border wall poster child.

Source: National Post February 11, 2019 22:51 UTC