Santa visits Sunland Park, hundreds of toys given to children

Hundreds of students from Borderland schools lined the parking lot of the Sunland Park Casino Saturday morning waiting for Santa’s arrival.

Arriving with a police escort, Santa handed out more than 500 Christmas toys to students from Sunland Park, Riverside, Santa Teresa and Desert View Elementary School.

Police officers from the Sunland Park Police Department, El Paso County Sheriff’s Posse, Employees of the Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino and the Sunland Park Police Explorer program helped organized the event.

Sunland Park Police Chief Javier Guerra said that this was his first time ever witnessing an event of this magnitude, and he enjoyed seeing the children’s joy.

The annual event has been going on for the past 20 years.