Thank you, Beto, and thank you, Mr. Adler for your leadership in putting us mayors on the call earlier. But, I come to you today with a renewed sense of hope for the future of Texas. Really looking forward to the possibility that we are going to have governor who wants to be a partner not only to local leaders but also a partner to South Texas. As Congressman O’Rourke did mention, Brownsville is trying to lead and we are trying to lead by example. And a lot of the times, what we are doing is, we are doing it in spite of the governor and in spite of leadership because we have had to do it ourselves.
South Texas, as Beto mentioned… Brownsville is one of the least connected communities in the U.S. And we are also, unfortunately, one of the poorest communities in the United States. So, what we have set out to do in Brownsville is, we set out to cross our name off of both of those lists. We are doing it on our own without any sort of help from the state. We are funding our own middle mile broadband initiative here in Brownsville and that started in 2019 when we first convened that plan. That was just a little bit of forward thinking but also just a little bit of luck and we saw that during the pandemic, the importance of being connected and what that means to a city like ours.
As far as what is important to us, certainly, lifting up South Texas, we have seen the governor talk a lot about South Texas and employed some of the rhetoric we have been hearing for several years, both in Washington and in Texas, as to what happens on the border. And as a border mayor and in a border community, I think all of us are very unique but we are also very similar in our border economy, our culture and community. Whether it is Brownsville, Texas, El Paso, Laredo, Eagle Pass, even San Diego. We all are very similar because we share a neighbor to the south and we share a culture with our neighbors to the south and we have depend on Mexico for our economy. And to hear the governor and his rhetoric on the individuals that come and the asylum seekers and those seeking a better future, it is really insulting and to see some of the priorities that we have seen at the legislature over the last several years, too, has been surprising and disappointing, to say the least.
We have seen the legislature attack abortion rights, we have seen the legislature be in the news now for not good things when it comes to abortion rights and try to send a national model that is contrary to what we have seen.
We have also seen their priorities in guns and constitutional carry and letting anybody without a background check, without any sort of training own a gun in Texas. And as we see a rise in mass shootings and other tragedies involving guns, you know, I think the priorities of our legislature are very skewed when it comes to that. And, Steve, I am going to tell a story very briefly about that. I was on South Congress a couple of months ago. I was actually coming back to Brownsville and I saw somebody just walking down South Congress with a rifle as if nothing was going on; just in the middle of the day, 2 p.m. on a Sunday. Just walking down South Congress with a rifle. We really are turning into the Wild West, so to speak, here in South Texas. We need to really prioritize what is important in Texas and what is important to South Texas and the economy of Texas.
During Covid, Brownsville had to fend for itself. We were left to fend for ourselves. We are a community that is predominantly Hispanic. A community that is… 70 percent of our community suffers from chronic illness. So that made us really suffer with Covid. We took it into our own hands to limit occupancy in some of our businesses. We didn’t shut down our businesses. We did not lock down. We felt that at the time the best science was wearing masks, which our governor disagreed with for months, and that, unfortunately, cost us many, many, lives. But also we that felt it was beneficial to reduce occupancy in our businesses and allow them to operate, give them a chance to operate, give them a chance to survive but limit the occupancy. And what we got in response to that was a letter from the attorney general telling us that we were in violation of the governor’s orders and we needed to comply or else.
I am tired about hearing the ‘or else’s’, right. We have seen that with what the governor is doing on the border, deploying state resources, turning down federal resources but employing state resources to the border when time and again I have been on national news, telling people that Brownsville, Texas, has not had a crisis. The crisis exists in Washington, and our failure to actually come up with a comprehensive immigration reform system. But, instead the governor chooses to deploy resources and deploy more rhetoric about our border.
And I can tell you how many times the governor has reached out to me, a mayor on the border that sees more crossings than most other border communities. I can tell you how many times he has called to ask me about it. And, it is the same answer, zero. I have had more meetings with Beto about this. He has toured our facilities, he has seen the systems that Brownsville is employing. We have been testing from day one, (based on) the president’s orders, back in January, almost a year ago. We have been testing to keep our community safe, we have had a system in place to keep our community safe and ensure that asylum seekers are treated like human beings and that they are given the chance to realize the American Dream.
So, you look at the priorities of the legislature and they do not align with the priorities of Texas, they certainly do not align with the priorities of South Texas. And again, like I said, I am hopeful and I really have a renewed sense of hope and excitement that we may finally have a governor who is a partner to South Texas and a partner to all Texas, regardless of your political party.
So, thank you, Beto, for doing this. Thank you for running and thank you so much for believing in Texas and especially those without a voice.
Editor's Note: The above guest column is based on commentary given by Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez on a webinar hosted by former El Paso congressman and Texas Democratic Party candidate for governor, Beto O'Rourke. O'Rourke met with various mayors from around Texas. The "Steve" Mendez refers to is Steve Adler, mayor of Austin. Click here to read O'Rourke's remarks about Mendez.
Producing quality journalism is not cheap. The coronavirus has resulted in falling revenues across the newsrooms of the United States. However, The Rio Grande Guardian International News Service is committed to producing quality news reporting on the issues that matter to border residents. The support of our members is vital in ensuring our mission gets fulfilled.
Can we count on your support? If so, click HERE. Thank you!
