'The ball was not dropped': City leaders weigh in on the aftermath of the Gateway Hotel closure

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) - El Paso leaders are calling the handling of the Gateway Hotel's eviction after years of code violations and safety concerns, a "learning opportunity."

In a news conference Thursday, the city discussed the aftermath of the court-ordered closure, that forced residents to move out of the hotel last week. As well as the concerns that suspected Tren de Aragua gang members may have been there.

Mayor Oscar Leeser said 20 families who lived at the Gateway Hotel moved to the Opportunity Center for the Homeless.

The city allowed the hotel to function despite not having an updated occupancy permit, and numerous fire code inspections that showed failure to meet safety standards.

"The laws require us to work with somebody if they're actively doing the repairs to the facility," added Mario D'Agostino, Deputy City Manager of Public Safety.

The Planning and Inspections Department explained the hotel owner was fixing the problems found during inspections.

The County Attorney's lawsuit that shut down the hotel states, police officers were called to the hotel nearly 700 times over two years, mostly to address criminal activity.

"We have that number of calls to numerous facilities, whether it's a grocery store, a Walmart, a shopping center. Those - that number of calls doesn't set any red flags for us. They do when they're certain types of calls. So if you're getting certain types of calls, like the mayor stated though, this is all calls," said D'Agostino.

Mayor Leeser also spoke out against the claim that El Paso is the "ground zero for the Tren de Aragua gang.

"It's not what you ever want to hear from elected leaders that represent us and you'd like people to talk about, when they talk about things, that they have the facts," said Oscar Leeser, City of El Paso Mayor.

After the city was pressed on why the hotel was not closed sooner, Leeser said the city "did not drop the ball" but, some things may need to change.

"..We're not making excuses because there's no excuse. We need to make sure that, if there's not red flags coming up, that we need to figure out how, red flags do go up at certain points," added Leeser.