County judge says state of Texas has lacked attention to El Paso during virus pandemic

EL PASO, Texas -- A line in the sand: That's what County Judge Ricardo Samaniego is calling a lack of attention on El Paso at the state level.

The judge said in a wide-ranging interview on ABC-7 that the state of Texas is just now making adjustments to bring El Paso into the picture when it comes to the Covid-19 response. (You can watch the entire interview, in two parts, in the video player at the top of this article. Use the side arrows to scroll from part one to part two.)

Samaniego said it's "regretful" it took so long to get attention when it came to testing -- but added he thinks we're now back on track.

The county judge also said he won't sit idly if troubling trends continue in El Paso.

"If the numbers keep going up and his plan keeps going forward then we will pursue the exception, the exceptions that we are going to show and display without a doubt that our numbers are very different and we're not ready for his economic plan and so this is part of it, we cannot give up on state government to feel that they can govern us in such a distance," he said.

Samaniego added that he feels adamant that local officials will be able to understand the El Paso community much more than anybody else.

Here were some additional thoughts the judge shared with ABC-7...

"I think there's a tremendous amount of concentration on the areas like Dallas, Houston, Austin and that was what caught their attention. That's what was really challenging. I really believe that they're barely making an adjustment and bringing us into the picture. That happens a lot here. We're isolated. We're pretty far from Austin. I think the adjustments are being made. We're getting the mobile testing coming up in the first weeks of May. ... I think the adjustment is taking place. I don't think this is a prolonged situation. It's regretful that it took so long, but I think that we're back on track. I think the right people are knocking on the governor's door. He understands the factors (Juarez, DAC) having their own challenges. I think we've got their attention. I think we're going to see testing increase. It's unfortunate we have to adjust later in the game."

"I don't think it'll ever be necessary for them to feel that our uniqueness ... They have to come over. I met with the state economic development team and they had never been to El Paso. This is state development team. We struggle a lot with that. Thanks to some of our elected officials we're beginning to bring that into light. This is one of those -- a line in the sand. I'm working with Mayor Margo to get attention. If numbers keep going up and (Abbott's) plan keeps going forward then we'll pursue the exception. The exception is that we're going to say that we will show and display that, without a doubt, our numbers are very different and that we're not ready for this economic plan. This is part of it. We cannot give up on allowing state government to feel that they can govern us from such a distance in such a unique border metropolitan area like ours. This is very unique. We need local officials to be at the table, be able to make the discussions and have the narratives that are needed in order to get the attention and the things that we need for El Paso. It's obvious. It started from the last legislation, trying to cap our revenues. I don't think we should give up on the idea that nobody knows our community the way our local elected officials know it. And by doing that, that's why you're elected. I feel very adamant about pursuing the fact that we will be able to understand our community much more than anybody else."