Guest Editorial
By David Saucedo
El Paso is not struggling because people stopped loving this city. El Paso is struggling because too many young people no longer see a future here.
That is a hard sentence to write, but it is harder to ignore. At a time when Texas continues to grow rapidly, El Paso is moving in the wrong direction. According to a recent article by El Paso Matters, El Paso lost 2,209 residents between 2024 and 2025, the largest population decline of any city in Texas and the seventh-largest decline in the United States. El Paso does not have a population problem because people hate this city. El Paso has a population problem because too many people no longer believe this city knows how to fight for them.
For years, we have talked about economic development as if it begins with a ribbon cutting, a tax incentive, or, my recent favorite, the absurd clapping seal routine for some random mid-level director in Meta’s data center outreach department promising prosperity while quietly fleecing the community. I digress. It does not. Economic development begins when a child believes he or she matters. It begins when a teenager sees a path. It begins when a young adult can imagine building a life here instead of escaping from here. And that is where El Paso has utterly failed.
More than a decade ago, when I sat on the mayor’s business roundtable, a proposal presented to the Mayor’s Office warned of the need to cultivate local high school students as future leaders. Its goal was clear: compel seniors to think seriously about the future of the region and how they could use local assets to achieve their dreams. That proposal now reads less like a civic initiative and more like a missed opportunity. We did not lack ideas. We lacked execution. We lacked urgency. We lacked accountability. And now we are living with the continued consequences.
The ongoing problems with El Paso’s youth, such as violence, disconnection, lack of mentorship, family instability, civic apathy and general “Edgarianism” cannot be separated from our population problem. They are the same problem viewed from different angles. A city that does not invest in its young people should not be surprised when they leave, drift, or fall apart. This is not sentimentality. It is economics.
Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman from the University of Chicago’s Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics has long argued that the most effective investments are made early in life, especially for disadvantaged children, of which El Paso has a healthy pool. His work emphasizes that success is not driven by cognitive ability alone, but by character, perseverance, self-control, emotional support, and strong early environments. In other words, if we want a stronger economy, we must build stronger and smarter people.
El Paso keeps trying to solve adult problems after childhood damage has already been done. We wait until young people are angry, disconnected, undereducated, unemployed, or gone. Then we form committees. We issue statements. We attend luncheons. We violently pat ourselves on the back for caring. That routine is over.
El Paso can no longer afford to tolerate mediocrity masked as excellence. We cannot keep celebrating programs no one measures, strategies no one follows, and leaders no one holds accountable. Outside of El Paso, underperformance has consequences. People get replaced. Programs get shut down. Failed strategies are abandoned. Here, too often, failure is rebranded as effort. That has to change. When I ran for Mayor almost a decade ago, my slogan was “No more mañana,” not as an indictment on our culture, but as a warning that we can no longer allow this laissez faire attitude to prevail in our community.
If a youth initiative cannot show results, end it. If an economic development strategy cannot retain talent, rewrite it. If public officials cannot explain what they are doing to keep young families, graduates, entrepreneurs, and working-class residents in El Paso, they should step aside.
Of course, not every failure is malicious. But repeated failure without consequence becomes negligence and incompetence on full display.
El Paso needs a serious human capital strategy. Not another slogan. Not another glossy report. A real plan that begins with early childhood, strengthens families, expands mentorship, connects students to local careers, supports mental health, builds civic pride, and tracks outcomes without fear of what the numbers might reveal.
Every high school senior in El Paso should know that this city has a place for them, whether it be after high school or 20 years later when they return home. Every young person should have access to mentors, internships, leadership opportunities, and adults who expect more from them than survival. Every family should feel that staying in El Paso is not an act of sacrifice, but an act of confidence.
That will not happen by accident. It will require discipline. It will require uncomfortable conversations. It will require leaders who are willing to do more than clap at ceremonies and pose for photographs. The future of El Paso will not be saved by the people who praise it the loudest. It will be saved by those willing to demand more from it.
Population decline is not just about numbers. It is about belief. It is about whether people believe this city is worthy of their future. Right now, too many do not. We are in the middle of a crisis and it is time our leaders and stakeholders start doing something, today, not mañana.
Cover photograph of David Saucedo courtesy of Maury Saucedo.
About David E. Saucedo
David E. Saucedo II is an attorney, real estate broker, locksmith and businessman living in El Paso.
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