New York City was the hotspot of the US and even the world, now, heads have turned to my home El Paso, Texas.

A town of nearly 700,000 people is now on the national stage, showing how our failed city and state leadership has led to over 90,000 COVID-19 cases and 1,121 deaths, and it all starts with the deadly trio of Mayor Margo, Gov. Abbott, and Attorney General Paxton.

As Mayor Margo fights to keep “the economy” open, he chooses to kill El Pasoans instead of prioritizing them, showing his incapability to lead effectively.

Although Mayor Margo did implement restrictions towards the beginning of the pandemic that were beneficial, that kind of leadership we needed quickly faded and is nowhere to be seen.

One of the only elected officials who tried protecting the lives of hundreds of county constituents consistently, Judge Samaniego, was only to be attacked by the city government and Texas Attorney General Paxton for closing non-essential businesses.

As El Paso hospitals hit capacity, sick and dying citizens are left to die in hallways because of a vacancy in leadership.

Living in a smaller city should mean that we are able to control this situation, but because of so-called “leaders” like Margo, Abbott and Paxton, we are now on the pedestal for embarrassment on the national stage.

This kind of failure makes me ashamed of being from El Paso, our constituents deserve comfort, not the Intensive Care Unit.

From a state-wide position, republican leadership has failed at all levels in Texas, from Gov. Abbott’s sheepish rules to Attorney General Paxton’s obstructive rulings.

The only reason Gov. Abbott was not stricter on Judge Samaniego’s shut down order is because he knows we need it- it is obvious that we are dying at oblivious rates.

Paxton has failed residents of El Paso, forcing our city to stay open when our hospitals are full.

Deciding to sue Judge Samaniego over the restrictions we so desperately need shows how he prioritizes a republican agenda central around the economy that the top ten percent own 70 percent of- he’s not here to serve Texas, he’s here to serve his pockets.

Instead of focusing on getting cities ravaged from COVID on the right track, he spends his time filing lawsuits against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to disqualify voted that have been confirmed several times.

There is absolutely no reason why my community should be dying of a virus that is so easily contained, however, it’s no shocker that because of these leaders we’re in this situation.

Leaders aren’t the ones at full fault either, if El Paso citizens listened to what city leaders implement, our situation would not be as severe, but again, that requires restrictions placed and enforced by the city.

The full mobile morgues and failed lungs of El Paso COVID victims are on this whole trio of a disastrous republican leaders’ hands, from their rules to incompetence, they created this cycle of death that has led this community to having over 1,000 deaths.

Our community needs to recover, and that includes recovering from these leaders.