The Borderland is facing unique challenges when it comes to Covid-19. With a region that encompasses both state and international boundaries and an economy that is closely tied together, local leaders are trying to find solutions that keep our community safe but also help our economy get back to normal. They spoke about the issues in an online event.
New Mexico State University Chancellor Dan Arvizu says the federal government and other institutions should have been better prepared to respond to the pandemic.
“The warnings were there, we knew what was going to happen we knew what the roadmap for preparing ourselves were, we didn’t listen and here we are faced with something our infrastructures not able to accommodate the challenges we have,” said Arvizu.
Arvizu says NMSU is working to combat food insecurity and meet the needs of the community.
“Again, our focus has to continue to be on, let’s deal with the immediate crisis in ways that can be responsive to the community. And so clearly food insecurity was one of the first things we had to deal with. With the disruption of our normal practices, whether it be in public education, K-12, or higher education, we have challenges we have to do in order to meet the needs of just human basic needs,” said Arvizu.
One of those needs is manufacturing on the border. In Juarez, the industry workforce of around 330,000 people has been reduced to 150,000. Alan Russell is the CEO of Tecma, which operates in Juarez. Russell is concerned that US firms will turn elsewhere for products.
“These companies closing down and the US starting up, we see this on a daily basis right now. The US the state of Texas, all of the states including New Mexico addressing this issue of how to get back in business. And, so the companies getting back in business are going to start pulling on the supply chain and they are going to require the Mexico factories to supply. That’s Mexico’s, especially in our region, we are a supply chain organization as a group and if we can’t supply that demand the consumers of that demand are going to go somewhere else for the supply immediately. If the automakers in the US start up and the auto supply companies in Mexico can’t supply, the auto makers will immediately turn to a supply base that can supply. Whether it’s China, whether it’s Europe or back in the United States, where it may be. We could lose 20% of our industry in this region as a direct result of that issue. That would be devastating for our region,” said Russell.
Russell says he hopes a solution can be reached with the Mexican government and the US government working together.
“We have got to get a system in place where we can match the essential businesses on the Mexico side with the essential businesses on the US side to accommodate that,” said Russell.
And when it comes to reopening the economy, Russell says lessons learned in businesses and factories that are currently running would be useful.
“I strongly feel that we can start opening our community to business based on what we’ve learned. There are businesses operating safely today and they stayed in business and they are doing it without continued exposure risk. Just think about it, the grocery store, UPS, FedEx, Home Base, Home Depot, the USPS, the restaurants that are doing takeout, Starbucks is serving coffee everyday out the window. These companies are doing this with protocol and doing it safely and we can start opening businesses in El Paso and on the Mexico side and in Las Cruces and in this region doing it safely,” said Russell.
But El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego says local and state governments must be extremely careful in managing the crisis.
“We know that the governor and one of things that’s very important in this vision we have is really important and one of the concepts that I want everybody to understand is that when we started we were the last kid, we had the fewest cases, and we went into an incline, and so we are behind the curve 3-4 weeks and so the balance between hearing what Gov. Abbot would like for us to do and balancing that with flattening the curve is in fact a huge challenge,” said Samaniego.
Judge Samaniego also says the community’s resilience will help the border weather the challenges ahead.
“There has to be a spirit of our community that has to be the foundation of moving forward. It is going to be that spirit, like you would get a team going and getting excited about winning a game. That’s what we have to do,” said Samaniego.
The judge went on to remind participants that the region has overcome and grown stronger from the hardships shared over the last year, such as the asylum-seeker crisis and mass shooting. He says those events showed the strength of our community and we can harness that same strength now.
This story was produced from an online event on April 22, 2020 hosted by:
New Mexico State University and the Arrowhead Center
The Techonlogy Hub
Pioneers 21
MCA Foundation