President Obama: Castner Connects The Past And Future
If you ask El Pasoans and Juarenses how they view the U.S.-Mexico border between El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, they will say the same thing: the separation between the two cities is more or less a fiction. And as the mayors that represent these two cities, we agree.
It is this same message of inclusiveness that has connected our two communities, well before they were divided into two states. El Paso Del Norte, with one half in Ciudad Juarez and the other half in El Paso, is about celebrating our beautiful region.
Despite the man-made barriers that divide our communities, our constituents remain unified and proudly tout that they live in the largest binational community in the world. Collectively, our binational community is the 2nd most populated in Mexico and the 3rd most populated in the United States.
Issues of importance on one side of the border undoubtedly affect the other side. For example, economic prosperity of our region relies on both sides of the border, and as a region, we have traveled together to promote doing business on both sides of the border. When Pope Francis visited our border earlier this year, both sides of the Rio Grande joined the Papal in prayer on behalf of victims of violence, asking God for the gift of conversation.
