TEXAS GOVERNOR ABBOT BEHIND ABRUPT GATEWAY HOTEL CLOSURE? | GATEWAY HOTEL RESIDENTS “COLLATERAL DAMAGE?" | CALL FOR BETO O'ROURKE AS INTERIM MAYOR?
Sean Ian Fischer, MA, EMBA
Leadership Consultant | Investments Management | International Relations & Crisis Analyst | Veterans Advocate | Personal Sovereignty Advocate at Mustang Leadership Solutions Group? LLC
? 25 September 2024 by Sean Ian Fischer. All Rights Reserved. Contributor to Mustang Leadership Solutions Group, LLC.
UPDATE - 26 SEPTEMBER 2024 2:40PM MOUNTAIN TIME
ABC 7: Texas DPS: 20+ Susptected Tren de Aragua Gang Members Arrested in El Paso's Gateway Hotel
ABC 7: El Paso Mayor says city needs to change procedures following Gateway Hotel closure
The State of Texas, County of El Paso, and City of El Paso have yet to come clean as to why the Gateway Hotel on 104 S. Stanton St., in El Paso, Texas was shuddered within 48 hours after receiving approval by a Texas State District Court Judge (Judge Maria Salas-Mendoza) court-ordered the Gateway to be closed. Its residents were forcibly evicted, displaced, and it is presumed, many of the 60 residents may have been made homeless because of the court order.
The Gateway Hotel appears to have been in violation of numerous city ordinances, safety-fire safety codes, regulations, and statutes since it received its first, and only, Temporary Occupancy Permit (and valid only for 6 months to one year) in 2015 or 2016. However, some reports indicate that it was 2018. In either case, it is between 6-8 years. That’s a long time. So what is another 60-90 days to install all new fire and smoke alarms, place portable fire equipment in the building, clean up the trash and debris in and around the building, and proceed in an orderly manner to have NGOs to assist the residents to relocate to temporary and follow on permanent housing, and ensure that the 60 residents were all fed daily etc.?
Instead, for inexplicable reasons, the County of El Paso “decided” to make the Gateway Hotel a “sudden” priority for closure. The 60 legal residents, who presumably are all American Citizens, some allegedly United States Military Veterans, were “acceptable collateral damage,” in some mysterious, behind the scenes effort to rid them from the Gateway.
Coinciding with the Texas District Court’s temporary 90-day injunction were the following comments and actions by Texas Governor Abbot:
1.????? 12 September 2024. County of El Paso shudders Gateway Hotel in compliance with Texas District Court Judge Maria Salas-Mendoza order. Residents given, at best, 48 hours to vacate the hotel. Those who had the means were able to remove all of their property. Some had to leave their personal property to be retrieved at some undetermined time in the future.
2.????? 16 September 2024. Tren de Aragua declared by the State of Texas Governor Abbot to be a “terrorist organization.”
3.????? 16 September 2024. Governor Abbott and DPS declares that the Gateway Hotel is “Ground Zero” for Tren de Aragua gang criminal activity in downtown El Paso.
4.????? 19 September 2024. Governor Abbott in an interview with El Paso's ABC 7 Stephanie Valle, announced the formation of an inter-agency task force in El Paso to deal with the likes of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. In the meantime, the City of El Paso Chief of Police stated that there were maybe but one known Tren de Aragua gang members in the Gateway Hotel. The Chief explained that the identifying criteria for being a “gang member” had not been met for many others/undocumented Venezuelans in the Gateway.
5.????? 24 September 2024. El Paso District 8 Representative Chris Canales refused to be interviewed by FOX 14 about the sudden Gateway Hotel closure and his part in it.
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6.????? 24 September 2024. El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser sidesteps and postpones interview with ABC 7.
The El Paso’s District Attorney's Office, and the City of El Paso, have been noticeably absent, sparse, and scarce from taking Press interviews since 12 September 2024. Perhaps they are taking pages out of US presidential candidate Vice-President Kamala Harris’ playbook by avoiding interviews with the press.
Texas Governor Abbott behind Closure of Gateway Hotel? | National Politics at Play?
Perhaps Governor Abbot applied pressure on the County of El Paso to fast track the injunction to close the Gateway Hotel in his zeal to backstop his position (and that of former President Trump’s strong stance on immigration) to use the Tren de Aragua gangs' criminal activity for their own political purposes to bolster Mr. Trump’s position in the run up to what is expected to be a very contentious presidential election - just 5 weeks away.
The Gateway Hotel residents, it appears, were expendable; collateral damage, in pursuit of the bigger national political picture of ensuring Mr. Trump wins the upcoming election. In other words, it seems there are traces of national political motivations playing out in El Paso, Texas.
The “sham interviews” by El Paso District Attorney Mr. Hicks, the El Paso Mayor Mr. Leeser and his staff insult the intelligence of El Pasoans, Texans, Americans, and more importantly the family, friends, and loved ones of the 60 Gateway Hotel legal residents, who were so casually, inhumanely, disrespectfully, and forcibly evicted from the Gateway on 12 September 2024 at 10:00 AM. The City and County of El Paso had no real plan for the residents. They heaped the unpleasantness of the suddenly homeless on NGOs to sort out the complicated details.
The City and County conveniently side-stepped the real heartache and trauma of dislocating low-income people who do not have the ways and means to fight the injustices of the local, state and federal governments. This is a crime on the part of the County and City of El Paso against its own Citizens. Responsible and accountable government officials should be reprimanded, disciplined, fined, fired, and not have the ability to ever hold public office again. The County-City of El Paso’s actions (and possibly the State of Texas government officials, Federal agencies/government?) are egregious.
Restitution, Displacement Compensation, Undue Trauma-Stress-Anxiety Compensation for 60 Gateway Residents | Class Action Lawsuit Filing
The best actions the City and County of El Paso should take is to admit their failures. This is “Leadership 101.” Instead, the El Paso City and DA (i.e. the County) are choosing to defend indefensible positions, justifying their unjustifiable actions, making excuses for what is clearly their failures of responsible and accountable leadership in the execution of the duties of their offices.
In my 34 years on active duty in the United States Navy, failures of leadership were punished severely. The United States Navy, of all the military services, had (and still has) the reputation of showing "no quarter" to leaders who fail in sound judgment, decision-making, and leadership. Commanders of fleets, ships, submarines, SEAL teams, and units ashore are relieved of command, court-martialed, and many times, dismissed from the Sea Service when they fail to uphold these tenets of naval leadership. The El Paso City and County leaders need to be “relieved of command” immediately.
Enter Former United States House of Representatives 16th Congressional District Beto O’Rourke as Interim-Caretaker Mayor of El Paso
Having written and researched a bit on Mr. O’Rourke, his background, his unsuccessful gubernatorial and presidential bids, he seems like the right man for the job to restore the reputation, credibility, and image of the Office of the Mayor of El Paso, Texas. We share in common that we both grew up/lived in the Sunset Heights barrio and attended Vilas Elementary School. He nearly upstaged Governor Abbot in his run for Governor of Texas a few years ago. He has a firm grasp of the nuances, culture, and history of the El Paso borderland region arguably more than any other American politician. His family has a long history in El Paso. Perhaps Beto can be recalled from academia to once again serve the City of El Paso.
Way Ahead
El Paso leaders need to admit their failures and shortcomings, get an action plan together to do the right thing for the former Gateway Hotel residents. That being, a) pay them restitution for the rents they paid (that they should not have paid since the Gateway should have been condemned in the first place; and was not habitable, safe or secure), b) pay them displacement costs for the illegal notifications - short notice evictions, and c) pay them for the trauma-stress-anxiety caused them by such inhumane and disrespectful acts on the part of the City and County of El Paso.
El Paso needs to put their money where their mouths are. Find the money. Take loans, do what ordinary Citizens have to do in a crisis. The City and County of El Paso needlessly induced this crisis. Do the right thing El Paso. FIX THIS!