President Trump Takes Re-Election Campaign To El Paso Next Week

WASHINGTON (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — President Donald Trump will hold his first campaign rally of the year in Texas.

His re-election team says the rally for supporters will happen next week in El Paso.

The president often cites El Paso in arguing his case for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to deter illegal immigration and crime.

Trump's campaign manager tweeted the rally will be held "less than 1000 feet from the successful border fence that keeps El Paso safe!"

The Republican president cited El Paso on Tuesday in his State of the Union address as an example of a city he says became safer after a barrier was installed.

Many people in El Paso took issue with his statement, including Democratic Representative Veronica Escobar who tweeted, "He lies. @POTUS is once again lying and using the #SOTU address to spread falsehoods about our beloved city of El Paso."

And the facts support Escobar.

According to uniform crime reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, between 1993 and 2006 the number of violent crimes in El Paso fell by more than 34 percent. Construction on the border fence there did not start until 2008 and crime actually rose while the barrier was being built and continued to climb one year after its completion.

The Trump-Pence MAGA Rally is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. CST on February 11, 2019 at the El Paso County Coliseum.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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