The U.S. immigratn crisis through the ey of a borr town mayor | On Pot</tle><lk rel="nonil" href="><lk rel="alternate" type="applitn/rss+xml" tle="RSS" href="/wbur/rss"/><meta name="scriptn" ntent="Until recently Bno Lozano was the mayor of Del R, Texas. Once seen as a risg star the Democratic party, he’s now a fierce cric of Print Bin’s handlg of the southern borr. "/><meta property="og:type" ntent="webse"/><meta property="og:tle" ntent="The U.S. immigratn crisis through the ey of a borr town mayor"/><meta property="og:scriptn" ntent="Until recently Bno Lozano was the mayor of Del R, Texas. Once seen as a risg star the Democratic party, he’s now a fierce cric of Print Bin’s handlg of the southern borr. "/><meta property="og:url" ntent="><meta property="og:image" ntent="><meta property="og:image:alt" ntent="Migrants, mostly om Hai, gather at a makhift enmpment unr the Internatnal Bridge on the bror between Del R, TX and Acuña, MX on September 17, 2021 Del R, Texas. 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You n try<!-- --> <a href="/newsletters">subscribg here</a> or try aga later.</span></div></div></div></div></hear><article class="article" data-rid="831153" data-rtype="story"><div id="gtm-visibily-50" class="gtm-pixel"></div><div id="gtm-visibily-75" class="gtm-pixel"></div><div id="gtm-visibily-100" class="gtm-pixel"></div><sectn class="sectn--bo sectn--bp sectn--first sectn--learboard"><div class="uw bp--rponsive"><div class="bp-ner"><p class="bp-label">Advertisement</p><div class="bp-ntent bp-ntent--centered"><div style="width:300px;height:50px"></div></div></div></div></sectn><hear class="article-sectn--tle article-sectn--island article-sectn--has-d"><div class="article-actn"><h1 class="article-hdr">The U.S. immigratn crisis through the ey of a borr town mayor</h1><span class="d-meta"><span class="article-d-duratn" aria-label="Aud Duratn">47:05</span><div class="article-d-opts"><a href=" class="article-d-dl" tle="Download the d" download="" role="button" tabx="0"><svg class="in 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class="in-play in-play--article"><span class="in-play-shape"><span class="in-label" data-note="for-screen-rears">Rume</span></span></i></a></div><div class="article-meta"><span class="article-meta-em--date"><span tle="Wednday, January 25th 2023, 12:35:23 am">January 25, 2023</span></span><ul class="article-meta-em--thorlist article-meta-group"><li class="article-meta-em article-meta-em--thor"><a class="article-meta-lk article-meta-em--thor" href="/si/staff/paige-sutherland">Paige Sutherland</a></li><li class="article-meta-em article-meta-em--thor"><a class="article-meta-lk article-meta-em--thor" href="/si/staff/meghna-chakrabarti">Meghna Chakrabarti</a></li></ul><div class="article-share article-share-ins"><a href=" & target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" class="article-share-lk" tle="Share on Facebook"><svg class="in in-facebook" viewBox="0 0 128 128" role="img" width="24" aria-labelledby="tle"><tle id="tle">facebook</tle><path display="le" d="M120.1,0H8.2c-4.4,0-8,3.6-8,8v112c0,4.4,3.6,8,8,8h60.4V78.2h-16V59.8h16V43.9 c0-14.6,8.9-24.3,26.4-24.3c7.7,0,13.1,0.9,13.1,0.9V37h-12c-5.3,0-8,3-8,8.2v14.5h18.7l-2.7,18.4h-16v49.7h32c4.4,0,8-3.6,8-8V8 C128.1,3.6,124.5,0,120.1,0z"></path></svg></a><a href="mailto:?body=The U.S. immigratn crisis through the ey of a borr town The U.S. immigratn crisis through the ey of a borr town mayor" class="article-share-lk" tle="Share by email"><svg class="in in-email" viewBox="0 0 128 128" width="20" aria-labelledby="tle"><tle id="tle">Email</tle><path display="le" d="M64.2,86.3l-64-48V104c0,4.4,3.6,8,8,8h112c4.4,0,8-3.6,8-8V38.4L64.2,86.3z M64.2,72l64-48 c0-4.4-3.6-8-8-8H8.2c-4.4,0-8,3.6-8,8L64.2,72z"></path></svg></a></div></div></hear><sectn class="article-sectn--lead-image article-sectn--lead-image--standard"><figure class="article-fig" style="aspect-rat:1000 / 667"><picture class="article-fig-ner"><img class="article-image" src=" alt="Migrants, mostly om Hai, gather at a makhift enmpment unr the Internatnal Bridge on the bror between Del R, TX and Acuña, MX on September 17, 2021 Del R, Texas. (Jordan Vonrhaar/Getty Imag)"/></picture><figptn class="article-fig-ptn">Migrants, mostly om Hai, gather at a makhift enmpment unr the Internatnal Bridge on the bror between Del R, TX and Acuña, MX on September 17, 2021 Del R, Texas. (Jordan Vonrhaar/Getty Imag)</figptn></figure></sectn><div class="article-sectns"><sectn class="article-sectn--ntent hang-punctuatn article-sectn--first article-sectn--centered"><p class=""><strong><em>Sign up for the On Pot newsletter <a class="elr" href=">here</a>. </em></strong></p><p class="">Bno Lozano has broken que a lot of barriers Del R, Texas: om beg the cy's first openly gay official, to s youngt mayor.</p><p class="">While office, Lozano put this small borr town on the map.</p><p class="">He took a stand on immigratn by mandg more om his Democratic party at the borr. He also brought the first natnally televised drag show to town, which he starred .</p><p class="">Today, O<em>n Pot:</em> We s down wh the recent mayor of Del R, Texas about his journey to polics and his time charge of a borr town.</p><span><h3>Gut</h3></span><p class=""><strong>Bno Lozano</strong>, mayor of Del R, Texas om 2018 to 2022. (<a href=">@BnoRalphy</a>)</p><span><h3>Transcript</h3></span><p class="">MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: The southwtern Texas cy of Del R ss on the banks of the R Gran. It's a borr town and until recently, a relatively quiet one. But om 2007 to 2018, U.S. Ctoms and Borr Protectn reported only about 20,000 borr enunters each year at the Del R sector. Borr Patrol f an enunter as an apprehensn or termatn of admissibily of a non-U.S. cizen. And then 2019, the number of illegal borr crossgs Del R jumped dramatilly to 57,000. In 2021, was up to 259,000 enunters.</p><p class="">And 2022, that number stood at 480,000. That's 14 tim Del R's populatn of roughly 34,500. Now, 's unclear how many of those 480,000 were the same people tryg to cross multiple tim. Ctoms and Borr Protectn do not track the numbers that way. But no matter how the numbers are tracked, the mayor of Del R plead wh the Bin admistratn, sayg his cy was overwhelmed.</p><p class=""><em>BRUNO LOZANO [Tape]: Mr. Print, my name is Bno Lozano, mayor of the cy of Del R, Texas. And I am pleadg and requtg wh you to please put a halt to any measur regardg the release of immigrants awag urt dat to the cy of Del R and surroundg areas.</em></p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: That was the then mayor of Del R, Texas, Bno Lozano. He posted a vio onle on Febary 17th, 2021, after a wter storm left more than 11 ch of snow the area and llapsed Texas's power grid.</p><p class=""><em>LOZANO [Tape]: If you do send the dividuals to our muny, we will be forced to make a cisn to leave them whout rourc unr the dire circumstanc. I am askg you to please stop. Please make another plan for this feral issue. If you're gog to allow the dividuals to our muny, I rpectfully ask that you provi the means and the suppli necsary to acmodate them safely unr the extreme circumstanc.</em></p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: The feral aid did not e and the flow of migrants did not stop. Mayor Lozano posted another vio, this one seven months later, September 2021.</p><p class=""><em>LOZANO [Tape]: The Borr Patrol right now is so overwhelmed wh the flux of migrants the Del R sector, we have about 2,000 to 3,000 at any given moment tentn. The dividuals behd me are not tentn. They're jt wag to get taed to ntue their procs to the Borr Patrol ctody.</em></p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Lozano the vio is standg unr a bridge leadg om Del R to Mexi. And behd him are crowds of migrants who Lozano says crossed the R Gran illegally and are mpg out unr the bridge.</p><p class="">LOZANO: You know, this is jt somethg that really needs to be brought to light, that we need quick actn om the admistratn. We need quick attentn to this. We need a rponse real time. And, you know, a stark warng was livered back Febary when I released the vio to the Bin admistratn. Now, what you're seeg behd me was a threat then. And here 's g to the worst-se scenar of worst-se scenar.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: For as long as feral aid did not e. Lozano ntued, postg updat and pleadg for help om the Bin admistratn. Tweetg at the print and vice print wh aerial photos of the migrants his cy and sayg, quote, We need you to vis Del R, Texas, and quote, Where is the plan to protect our southern borr? Well, Print Bin never me to Del R 2021. In fact, his first vis to the borr was jt earlier this month, on January 8th, 2023, El Paso, more than 400 away om Del R. And here's what the print told reporters that day while at the borr.</p><p class=""><em>BIDEN [Tape]: They need a lot of rourc ... We're gog to get for them.</em></p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI:  Former Del R Mayor Bno Lozano would be fiven if he don't buy . He'd been askg for those rourc sce 2021 and he'd been askg for them om the head of his own party. Bno Lozano is a Democrat, and he held his mayoral seat unr both Print Tmp and Bin. His term end June of 2022, and today he jos the On Pot stud. Wele to the program.</p><p class="">BRUNO LOZANO: Thank you for havg me.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: So when I jt played that tape of Print Bin El Paso, I uldn't help but notice your ey rolled a ltle b.</p><p class="">LOZANO: Thank you for llg me out. Yeah, they did roll. I jt feel I mean, I do wele the print's vis to the borr. I feel like was need a lot sooner than later. But I wele the admistratn to actually vis the borr muni. I thk a lot of borr mayors or former borr mayors kd of took a better breath. I mean, a breath of h air that, okay, 's fally or at least regnizg that there's a suatn gog on, whether they want to ll a crisis or a surge or what have you, 's irrelevant. There is somethg gog on at the borr.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Tell more tail then what is gog on. Dcribe to me, what did thgs look like , you know, that perd of 2021 where you saw this like 14 fold crease the amount of borr enunters that were happeng the Del R sector. What did look like?</p><p class="">LOZANO: Hontly looked like a ltle war zone. It looked like there was an vasn of people g . And I know that that's a very sensive topic and word and language. But I mean, there's no other way to scribe the thoands that were g hourly to Texas to the cy of Del R. You know was jt somethg that is jt profound, unprecented. And 's embedd forever. The fac, the people, the bathg the river, the micro enomy that was tablished wh people purchasg food Mexi and sellg unr the bridge. I mean, you saw everythg. People were havg babi unr the bridge. I mean, 's somethg that I wnsed myself.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Tell me more about this bridge, bee I scribed a ltle earlier. It leads om Del R to the almost like the sister town Mexi across the borr, whose name I've fotten.</p><p class="">LOZANO: It's an ternatnal bridge. And we're one of the unique borr muni where Del R is actually land about three . So the bridge is kd of outsi. It's not outsi the cy lims. It's our bridge, but there's a lot of land, you know, you see a lot of borr towns. I thk the borr towns kd of hug the river or hug the borr like Tijuana, San Diego, El Paso, Juarez. Whereas Del R don't really necsarily hug. Our downtowns are not nnected that way. So the bridge is kd of like semi wilrns, semi-natural and the cy owns and operat the ternatnal bridge. That's actually our property.</p><p class="">And CBP, DHS only procs and owns the bound area where you go through borr protectn like, you know, we go through ctoms basilly. And unr the bridge 's like. How n I scribe ? There's nothg there. I mean, there's nothg there to provi anybody. It's jt a stagg area. And how got to be a stagg area now, as you saw September and even beforehand, is that people cross the river and there's nowhere for them to wa.</p><p class="">So ... 's got sha. It's a shelter, you know, for whatever reason om clement weather. So that's kd of like why the Borr Patrol was jt kd of like sayg go that way, go that way. And then they pick them up whenever they have enough patrolmen to go and ta them.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: So I want to get a clear picture as possible bee, I mean, like this credible surge and where people like actually physilly crossg the river, where they're g over the bridge. I mean, how were they g to the river?</p><p class="">LOZANO: There was no pestrian traffic on that bridge. It was all g across the river. And so there's a ltle there's a ltle a ty ltle dam. ... And 's actually very dangero. And if you look at the image, you see the dividuals crossg and 's very shallow where they're walkg. But if they were to fall to their right, where the water is over that dam, the water sucks you unr and people have drowned. I mean, I remember growg up, that was like nobody did that bee you would drown if you fell to that water. But I mean, there was a whole le. I mean, there was thoands of people crossg out. It was somethg I had never, ever I never saw. I never image that happeng.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Thoands of people, hourly.</p><p class="">LOZANO: Thoands of people. And at the peak.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Where were they expected to go?</p><p class="">LOZANO: That's a great qutn. We don't know where they were gog to go. And leadg up to that, I mean, let's go back a uple of months and a uple of years. So the crisis actually ially started unr the Tmp admistratn. I appreciate you talkg about the fact that I was unr both princi. Right. The Tmp admistratn. I feel, you know, ially they didn't react eher. I remember talkg to some of the, you know, elected officials durg that admistratn and even Governor Abbott and a lot of the emergency rpons Texas, you know, bee we were seeg people who were sick, you know, we didn't know what kd of diseas they had. And we were jt tryg to provi some health rourc and tryg to reach out to Texas rourc for the dividuals.</p><p class="">... And of urse, the Tmp admistratn wasn't gog to send anythg at the time eher. But then COVID happened. So Tle 42 took to effect. That was 100%. You know, nobody allowed, nobody which really gave borr muni a chance to breathe. And jt tch up and like, you know, durg that time, that's when the mpaigng started that, you know, immigratn reform, we're gog to do this, tryg to do that, you know, borr protectn, and immigratn beme even that much more polarized wh the former print tryg to build a wall.</p><p class="">And this admistratn, you know, tryg to wele people for asylum, you know, there's all the different polil rhetoric. But physilly at the borr, Borr patrol statns systemwi were already backlogged sce 2019. And the facili were built bee prr to the last five years, I mean, the borr crosser was a sgle male.</p><p class="">LOZANO: And so the facili are built to manage men that are by themselv, you know, procsg cells right now. Now, they're fai. And they're large fai and diverse fai. So the facili themselv do not have the pacy to procs dividuals fast enough. That's jt the physil property self.</p><p class="">We also do not have enough manpower to procs the flux of what we've wnsed the last two years. I mean, five 5 ln people have crossed the borr. If you add up both years, I mean, that's the size of Hoton, Texas. Basilly image that procsg power that's need for the magistrate judge as the CBP, the Borr Patrol, ICE, all the different, you know, enti unr the DHS, there's jt not enough manpower.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Before the break, you were scribg, you know, not jt the acute problem of immigratn at the southern borr over the past year, but sort of the history that led up to pecially ,2021 and 2022. Why do that matter? And particular.</p><p class="">LOZANO: The crisis that we saw September of 2021 was the worst-se scenar of all worst-se scenars. But what people fet, I thk, is that the Borr Patrol has been backlogged, jt overwhelmed wh the numbers of crossers for the last five years. I mean, that's jt the way 's been. I mean, there's jt not enough procsg power, whether 's actual physil lotn or the personnel that's need to facilate the procsg self.</p><p class="">And I say procsg, 's a very specific set of thgs that happens when a crosser , they get taed by Borr Patrol. And so once they're tentn, they go to the facili, you know, at the Borr Patrol statn, if you will, and that's where they're given the documentatn to ntue their journey the Uned Stat. But once they have that documentatn, which the public would, pendg on which si you're on the polil spectm, they have a legal reason to be here now. So they're no longer illegal.</p><p class="">But there's different typ of stat for dividuals that never get procsed bee they never got taed and they don't have documentatn, so they are undocumented. Then you have the on that are documented, jt like the on that get released. And so there's all this different language and rhetoric that's gog out there. But the problem, at the end of the day, is immigratn reform.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Well, so I also wanted to ask you about many of the people that were lerally crossg the river, as you scribed when the numbers started risg the Del R sector were Haian.</p><p class="">LOZANO: Durg that event, sure.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Has that subsid sce then Del R? I mean, what's the suatn like now?</p><p class="">LOZANO: There are wav of different groups of people. So remember back 2019, was as Print Tmp then put , the Mexin Triangle. Remember the three. So was El Salvadorians, Guatemalans and or Niraguans. They crossed, you know, large numbers. And then was Venezuelans, and then was the Congole. And then was, you know, the Colombians. And then 2021, wh the Haians. And so there's different wav of groups of people that cross. I don't unrstand pletely like how that actually happens, how like jt a large number of a certa particular group of people om a certa natnaly e. But that's jt how 's been.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: But and so the crossgs are still higher than they were, say, ten years ago. What impact has this had on Del R, on your muny, on your nstuents?</p><p class="">LOZANO: Inially, when we started to see dividuals, you know, when Borr Patrol had jt released dividuals to the cy lims, I mean, 's like you're gettg forced homels dividuals. I mean, there's nowhere for them to go. You know, we don't have a homels shelter Del R, Texas. And at the time 2019, we didn't have a nonprof that would even help facilate, like gettg them accs to a phone or shelter or new cloth or anythg.</p><p class="">So we had to like as a uncil, we had to figure that out. And a nonprof, bls their hearts, you know, they me out of nowhere and sort of sayg, hey, we'll help procs dividuals. We got that gog. But I mean, people were jt walkg the streets aimlsly, nowhere to go, tryg to figure out how to get accs to a phone so they n buy their b ticket or buy their flight. And then we've kd of bee sensized to , so to speak. I mean, 's kd of like we know 's happeng our backyard and, you know, now 's streamled to where the Borr Patrol jt drops them off.</p><p class="">They're at the nonprof lotn at the Val Ver Humanarian Borr Coaln. And, you know, sometim you'll see them walkg on the streets and sometim you won't. Where the b picks up dividuals to take them to San Anton on the Greyhound, that property which is a nvenience store. They're so tired of that they actually won't even let the dividual stay si the buildg anymore.</p><p class="">They're like now buy your ta ... buy your drk, buy your soda, whatever. But you had to wa outsi bee what's happeng is that they jt s there for hours wag for the b. And so like regular people that are tryg to e the facily, like you and I, you know, buyg gas or whatever and eat our ta, there's no space, you know, bee 's jt migrants wag.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: When you were mayor and aga, your term end last summer, what did your nstuents want you to do, or what did they want om the Bin admistratn?</p><p class="">LOZANO: Great, great qutn. So 90% ... know that this is not a cy of Del R issue. They unrstand pletely 's a feral issue. And so they jt wanted to at least regnize that there's a crisis happeng right now real time. And when the numbers doubled as quickly as they did, we had lol rtrants make burros and taquos for them to feed them bee we knew that the Borr Patrol did not have the food available for them, you know, So people were very willg to, like, help out the suatn bee this is extreme circumstanc.</p><p class="">But they know that day we wanted our Borr Patrol men and women to be supported by this admistratn. People fet that Borr Patrol men and women live the muni that they're servg. I mean, my brother is a Borr Patrol guy. I mean, 's like and they have children. They have needs. And they were beg worked, you know, overtime hours like never before. And so my muny jt wanted to get addnal rourc at the end of the day.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: And the rourc beg?</p><p class="">LOZANO: More manpower, larger facili, the magistrat to actually like, you know, get the dividuals, you know, wh their urt dat and everythg. I mean, there's jt an endls amount of rourc that are need, you know, jt food, water, shelter, everythg, you name . That's what the facili need.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Okay. So we're gog to talk more about sort of you and your journey polics jt a send. But you ma a really good pot earlier about sort of how immigratn is talked about this untry and that a very plex issue tends to get flattened. In the natnal nversatn. And I was thkg about this the other day bee seems like we've reached a pot the Uned Stat where when we talk about borr crossgs on the southern borr pecially, 's like, well, if you're watchg right wg media, the phrase is nstantly, well, there's jt an open borr.</p><p class="">The Bin admistratn has open borr polici. If you're watchg, I gus, left wg or progrsive media, the talk is, Well, Donald Tmp ... did stop most immigratn as well. So jt wants to be nativist and close Ameri down. I mean, let me jt ask you, om what you saw every day durg your time as mayor, how would you scribe what the borr is? Is an open borr?</p><p class="">LOZANO: It's a closed borr, right? There's supposed to be procs place where you go to an actual borr facily, an actual ctoms facily. So you have land crossgs, right? You have all the legal pots of entry. You also have airport crossgs, which are, you know, the big airports that have ctoms, you have seaports. So you have a lot of accs and a lot of pots to legal crossgs. However, most migrants that are tryg to e to the Uned Stat right now are not g those accs pots bee what they're seeg or what they're beg told back home is like, oh, we'll jt cross unlawfully.</p><p class="">And then 's like you kd of like cut the le, you know? ... You have people like my classmat that are, you know, ... we're turng 40 this year. And some of them are jt now gettg their cizenship. You know, they went through the legal, lawful procs and they paid thoands of dollars. And they're extremely livid at this admistratn bee a lot of the dividuals, we unrstand that they're not gettg their legal stat right away or they're not gettg Amerin cizenship right away.</p><p class="">But 's like they get to cut the le, so to speak. And 's like, wa, well, what about me? I did the right way. Is that the right way? Is that the wrong way? I thk what needs to happen at the end of the day is immigratn reform. Like, what procs n we simplify and what lotns n we open up to alleviate the impact that borr muni are gettg every sgle day by this flux of migrant mentaly that's like, well, let's jt cross illegally. It's dangero. It's not safe for anybody volved.</p><p class="">You know, we don't want you to drown. We don't want our Borr Patrol men and women to have to risk their liv eher. We want dignified, humane treatment of dividuals g to Uned Stat to live this Amerin dream right now. Also, se pot, 's like you have two different sis of the same . It's the same . It's immigratn. And 's beg shared two different perspectiv and pots of view. But furthermore, I feel like there's this romanticized utopian dream om and I'm gog to jt say urban Democrats, you know, they oh, we want to wele everybody. We have rourc, everythg.</p><p class="">You guys have a lot of rourc big ci, Boston, New York, Chigo. There's a lot of stuff available that you n provi the public. You know, you have homels shelters, you have programs, you know, but the smaller muni like Del R ... we don't have that. It's jt do not exist. We don't have homels shelters. You know, we don't have this utopian like, you know, we n give fundg for everybody. Our budgets are very limed and very fe.</p><p class="">And jt like any sensible budget is, and I feel like 's a romanticized iology that like, you know, we want to wele as many people as we n. Well, so do we. But we have to do lawfully or at least reform the procs to make simpler, to get cizenship so that you n ntue to pay to the tax system that you're tryg to fd. And I thk that the Republin si of thgs has kd of jt monized the dividual that's crossg bee they know that trigger words like illegal, unlawful, are very powerful and very impactful.</p><p class="">And the regular average Joe is like, oh, well, that's illegal, that's unlawful. You know, let's tegorize them as rapists, as murrers or whatever, bee that's the kd of groupg. But the only crime that's beg mted is jt the way that 's nstcted. It's a civil penalty. It's not like, yeah, they're not murrg anybody. You know, this is the dualy that's happeng right now real time.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: And 's not helpg plac like Del R. And you're sayg all this as a Democrat, right? Okay. We're gog to e back to that a send. But so let's put a pse on the qutn of immigratn, bee you yourself have a fantastic story about how you entered polics. You're born Del R. Okay. So tell me what was like growg up there.</p><p class="">LOZANO: Tradnal.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Meang what?</p><p class="">LOZANO: I'm also a queer guy, first openly gay elected official Del R, Texas. So growg up, you know, you have this mdful mentaly wh like, you know, what a guy is supposed to be like. And then here I am, you know, like the most feme guy around, like I didn't even do sports or anythg like that.</p><p class="">Anyway, my s ed to tease me all the time. They're like, Oh, yeah, You know, he don't play outsi wh the boys. He's there wh the girls playg hoe. ... I love Del R. I love my hometown. You know, I got picked on. I got bullied. But, you know, I felt like I grew up, you know, wh a very strong, tight fay. We're very close. ... It's a very, very predomantly Hispanic Tejano muny.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Yeah. And how long has your fay been the Del R area?</p><p class="">LOZANO: So my dad's si was fifth generatn Texan Tejano. ... My mom ... she's first generatn. ... They were born right across the river.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Do you md if I ask, I mean, do you have a g out story to your fay?</p><p class="">LOZANO: I mean, I me out three tim. Bee my mom, when I told her when I was 15, she didn't talk to me for three days. She sists she did. And I was like, No, mom, you're ignorg me for three days. And then. Long story short, they end up tellg my dad. I didn't realize that. So then my dad me home one day, tore up my r, totaled bee they told them.</p><p class="">Long story short, I didn't know that what was gog on. I ran away om home, me back three days later, and my mom was like, Go tell your dad. And I did. And then my dad end up tellg me. Well, 's a very challengg and hard life. What I didn't realize is that a uple of his s had actually died due to LGBT issu. One was a trans woman that mted suici and then the other had HIV and passed away. So my dad was very close to his s and he jt didn't want me to have that kd of difficult life. So 's not that he didn't accept me. He jt didn't want the hardships.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: He wanted to protect you om the hardships that he saw his fay members go through.</p><p class="">LOZANO: That's a very short versn of a very long procs.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: You said that one of your brothers works for Borr Patrol.</p><p class="">LOZANO: Elr brother.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: And so he's actually out there, like, helpg?</p><p class="">LOZANO: He ed to be. I thk now he's like a back office job or somethg. I tease him, bee his name is also Bno Lozano. And so, like, his Facebook is like, not the mayor. I went to an awards ceremony for the Borr Patrol. They were honorg my rpons to the crisis. And then my brother was actually regnized there, too. At that same functn. And they were like, Mayor, go up and get your award. I'm like, That's my brother. That's your worker. That's not me. So yeah, I have an olr sister and them I have my younger brother. So there's four of . The olr two are half. They have different fathers.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: So when did you ci to jump to polics?</p><p class="">LOZANO: That's a great qutn. So I have always loved my muny and I love Del R. I'm a big Del R guy. And I would volunteer throughout my life, you know, cleang up the creek. We have a creek that needs a lot of love. It's the ve and artery of our muny, giv our water and, you know, do trash cleanups, thgs like that. And then I would be volved lol nonprofs.</p><p class="">... I was not anywhere near like beg the class print durg high school. But like, somehow I got suckered to like beg the print of our rnns, I had a 15-year rnn. And after that my classmat were like, You anized this. This was brilliant. You should n for mayor. And I'm like, guys, like nng a class rnn. You know, 15-year rnn is not the same as nng a cy. But my classmat jt saw somethg that I still to this day, I'm like, people ask me like, why do you do ? Why you do ? And I'm like, I jt do me.</p><p class="">I'm jt dog what I want to do. Like, you know, livg the way that I want to live and beg the person, an elected official should be. So they kd of like planted that seed. But even before then, I work at a small airle at the time, and I would vis the small municipali and I wanted to brg the ias back to Del R. And so I mpaigned on enomic velopment, astcture and acuntabily. And that's how I started the mpaign trail Febary of 2018.</p><p class="">And that's when the cumbent, I'll jt kd of share that ltle story. The cumbent was too by foced on my queerns and was like sharg my Speedo, high heel, tutu picture om many Pris ago. But I wasn't foced on my sexualy. I was foced on the cy. And so I had already upload my polil mpaign on my Facebook page. And so, like, for every time he'd share the photos, I got more lik and tert, and people were like, kd of helped me. It was like ee advertisg. Thank you, sir, for beg such a punk, you know? ... I walked the walk; I went to muny events and 62% of the vote.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Bee so you anticipated my qutn about beg a gay man, was an issue the mpaign? But sounds like wasn't an issue amongst the voters.</p><p class="">LOZANO: No. I mean, 's like, okay, this guy so foced on my sexualy and I'm not.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: I wanted to talk a ltle b more about you beg the first openly gay mayor of Del R. So you were actually, I'm gog to jt break down the fourth wall here. You were tellg me durg the break that the people who voted for you, was some of the most nservative parts of Del R who you said put you office. Why was that important to you?</p><p class="">LOZANO: Especially at the higher up level, they kd of jt target, Oh, well Democrats vote this. And we got to go through the neighborhoods. Republins are focg on their voters. But lol polics Texas, 's nonpartisan. It's bipartisan. You don't even clare your party. So I did not exclu the most nservative district, which is district two. I went door to door. I knocked on, I felt like thoands, but there's only hundreds of doors to knock on.</p><p class="">And I feel like that had a very powerful impact on the perspective of what social media is sayg about this, about this ndidate vers who this ndidate actually has ont of them. And was very impactful, and they showed up to vote me .</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Well, I jt want to remd folks that Del R isn't ty. I mean, 34,500 last I looked. So 's a sizable town. ... I gus maybe you didn't knock on those doors, but I wonr what those same nstuents thought when you brought the HBO special 'We're here' to Del R, which is a show where drag queens vis small towns across Ameri.</p><p class="">LOZANO: I had 13 pastors om the lol area wre a letter to the cy manager sayg that we should revoke the license bee that was beg held at a public park. And then I had a uncilman do like an vtigatn on me bee he thought that I was gettg paid for by the program. And then that's not what happened at all. You don't get paid to be on a documentary. That's jt not how documentari work, you know?</p><p class="">COVID was happeng for the show. But the producers were like, Bno, This is one of the biggt crowds we've had. I mean, we filled up the whole park. We were expectg maybe 150, 200 people. About 600 people showed up to watch the show. So we had a sizable, very supportive muny. And the realy is that my nstuents, they weren't foced on that. They knew that that was jt part of who I was. And I've never nied my past or who I am as a person. You know, alludg to some policians right now that are pletely nyg themselv.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Has your example and the fact that you were the lear of Del R as an openly gay man, do you thk 's changed the climate Del R for the other young people?</p><p class="">LOZANO: I thk so. I feel the youth oftentim get beltled or ignored or not even regnized cisn-makg polici at the uncil level, you know, higher ups and stuff. And so what I did, I vised all the elementary schools. I ma sure that I was visible. I ma sure that I went to the middle school and pecially high school classrooms, and I would s on one on one. I would talk very nonchalantly about, you know, what 's like growg up. And the stunts would approach me later. Thank you for sharg your story. I'm havg a hard time. How n I talk to my parents?</p><p class="">And then I would provi rourc. ... Years later, when the kids would graduate, bee several of them graduated and I'd be seeg them San Anton, like, mayor, thank you so much for g. Like, you really had a posive impact, you know. And so I thk that the stunts would tell their parents that there's this guy that's like, you know, we admire him for what he's dog. He's beg his te, thentic self and leadg a muny.</p><p class="">Like, I didn't make my mayorship foced on LGBT life. I thk that's jt one intifyg intifier of who I am, right? I'm also a veteran. I'm also a Tejano. I'm also an uncle, a son. I have all the different, you know, tras about me. And I thk they try to make seem like I had a gay agenda. But then my rponse was always like, okay, well, if buildg better streets and roads is the gay agenda. Then I gus we should all be on that bandwagon, right?</p><p class="">So I don't know what to tell you. And I would regnize Pri durg Pri Month, but I would also regnize other anizatns. And I actually diversified, you know, vg people. Like I ved a rabbi. That was the first time ever a rabbi me and spoke at a cy uncil meetg. I ved pastors of all nomatns, prits, everybody. I was tryg to be very clive a very tradnal town.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Well, you said you were a veteran bee you served the Air Force after high school. So another part of who Bno Lozano is. Today, how strongly is Democrat still part of your inty?</p><p class="">LOZANO: For a while there I was so trated wh this admistratn, and I jt wanted to jt leave. I feel like I was beg gasl wh everythg gog on wh immigratn ncerns on the borr. A lot of Democrats were sharg the same feelgs. But, you know, at the end of the day, I still believe that we have a really great platform that we support more clive practic and more progrsive practic, which I thk n help provi more for the muny, for Amerins.</p><p class="">But I also appreciate a lot of the valu that some of the Republin Party shar as well. Like, I don't like large ernment. Some of my iends Del R would ll me like, you got to e out of your send closet, which is a Republin Party closet. Bee I'm kd of a nservative Democrat. I'm very the middle. I lean more center than I do left. And I thk that's the betiful part of beg an Amerin and beg able to vote. You don't have to vote down party le. You n vote down for the bt ndidate. I wish more people would have that mentaly.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: Bee the reason why I asked you if Democrat is still a strong part of your overall inty is bee I first read about you this terrific article that Tim Alberta wrote The Atlantic about why Democrats are losg Hispanic voters. And he had ridn wh you all along the Del R sector and you were sharg your tratns wh him. And he kd of wonred out loud the article if you would stay the Democratic Party.</p><p class="">LOZANO: When he wrote the article, and I was beg terviewed, I was extremely trated wh the Bin admistratn. I was ntemplatg on my next my next procs, my next move, my next goal. I didn't know exactly where I wanted to go at that time. So, Tim actually ptured a very timate moment my life of like, what are my valu? What do I believe and where do I want to go?</p><p class="">And I say aga, I felt gasl by this admistratn that we're here tellg them this is what's gog on. And then they're out there publicly sayg that there's no crisis or even they only want to e the word. But then what happened, you know, months later you started seeg where women no longer had accs to health re. And then you had the trans bills g up and then you had, you know, they started villaizg drag queens. And I'm like, okay, no. Like, I'm not gog to swch over for that eher.</p><p class="">I share way more valu wh the Democratic Party. And I believe that, you know, they need people like myself wh the party to kd of volize that you n't romanticize issu eher. You have to have workable solutns that are discsed wh everybody. Like, you know, you got to have mayors at the table talk about immigratn, perd, like borr mayors specifilly.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: In talkg about ... proposed solutns, on January 5th of this month, Print Bin announced his latt immigratn polici. And basilly the ia is to create a faster legal procs for those wishg to claim for asylum the Uned Stat. ... I really have no ia what kd of rourc people who e to the borr have wh them. This ia of g an app to help speed and facilate procsg, is that realistic?</p><p class="">LOZANO: I thk so. A lot of them, as soon as they get on Texas ground, they have their phon out dog TikToks and Instagram reels and sayg, We ma . And 's kd of like your face how romanticized the northerners thk this asylum seeker procs is. You know, so I thk this is somethg that I actually support. I thk I've been tryg to get out there.</p><p class="">A lot of borr mayors and borr elected officials have been sayg like, you know, we got to start the procs -untry so that way they're not overwhelmed. And I allud to earlier, e the port of entri that we have available, which is not jt land crossgs, but I challenge the admistratn to open up to airports that n procs ctoms as well.</p><p class="">The borr is not jt between the Uned Stat and Mexi. Borr is all stat. Every sgle state that has an airport wh ternatnal ctoms is a borr port of entry perd. And I thk Amerins have this like, oh, a southern borr for the borr. New York Cy, JFK Airport, is one of the largt borr crossgs the world. That's legal borr crossg anytime you pass through CBP, that's what is.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: So what you jt said that you thk Northerners romanticize the people who e to the borr. What did you mean by that?</p><p class="">LOZANO: Well, specifilly urban, you know, the larger ci. Bee I feel like, you know, 's like they want to help, you know. Sure. Of urse, everybody's a human, human rights, human equaly. So there's this rhetoric out there that ... everybody is a human person, a human beg. They serve, you know, rpect. I agree totally. But, you know, e vis Del R, Texas, Eagle Pass, Texas, and tell that to dividuals that live there.</p><p class="">What you're projectg and promotg out there on social media or to your iends and fay and the muni that are crossg illegally and tell that to and we'll show you this is what happens. It's an environmental impact. They leave all their garbage behd. It's an enomic impact. They're takg rourc om the muny. It's a logistil impact. I mean, there's a whole bunch of different thgs that happen simultaneoly. That's hard unls you see firsthand, 's very challengg to scribe.</p><p class="">... Do you really want to ndone unlawful crossgs and like, have the fai drown, you know, and go through the serts or be part of the rtels that make thoands of dollars off of them? Or do you want to try to have a more humane approach where they n e the app or start untry and start wh digny and be dignified?</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: In orr to sort of alleviate the prsure overall, what should be done?</p><p class="">LOZANO: Let's revis, you know, employment opportuni and let's revis, you know, visa programs. I mean, you know, still exists. There's still a migrant populatn that go out to the north and picks the picks the fields, you know, durg the summer. And they go back, still exists. It's jt not legal or 's jt not out there. And revisn or reimage the visa procs. And I actually like to throw this out there, too. So like we allow dividuals to e study at our universi to do, you know, lucrative jobs like, you know, rocket science.</p><p class="">You know, we will give visas out to the to the different dividuals om like, you know, untri like India or Cha or what have you. And they're treated like this ele populatn of like, you know, you n e do this Ameri and study and do this. But then at the flip si, the plete oppose end of the spectm, 's like we still need workers that are actually gog to be workg our hotels or our crops or our cleaners. And we don't give them the same opportuny for visa programs.</p><p class="">They're villaized and they're monized. We, the Amerin system self, already ste, already has a ste system on why you're gog to e to the untry. And we put a value, a greater value on beg a profsor, beg a stunt, you know, or beg a rocket scientist than we do on that same dividua that's cleang. That's providg food or what have you. It's not equal treatment at all. I thk that I challenge Congrs to revent reimage what that looks like.</p><p class="">CHAKRABARTI: I hear maybe you're thkg about higher office.</p><p class="">LOZANO: Higher office. Jt don't know which chamber, and I'll leave out there. Stay tuned.</p></sectn></div><sectn class="article-sectn--story-group article-sectn--centered"><p class=""><em>This program aired on January 25, 2023.</em></p></sectn></article><sectn class="article-sectn--story-group article-sectn--centered"><hear class="zone"><div class="zone-ner"><h2 class="zone-hdr">Related:</h2></div></hear><ul class="article-story-group"><li class="story-group-em"><a data-ec="Article Related Lks" data-el="Bin viss agents are at the borr wall, but not migrants sleepg street" data-ea="Click" class="story-group-lk" href=">Bin viss agents are at the borr wall, but not migrants sleepg street</a></li><li class="story-group-em"><a data-ec="Article Related Lks" data-el="Joe Bin's Gone to the U.S.-Mexi Borr. What For? : 1A" data-ea="Click" class="story-group-lk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href=">Joe Bin's Gone to the U.S.-Mexi Borr. 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gay mayor of del rio

Beg the youngt mayor elected the history of his town, Lozano has prevly worked as a flight attendant, served the armed forc, and is gay

Contents:

DEL R ELECTS OPENLY GAY MAYOR

* gay mayor of del rio *

The South Texas town of Del R, populatn 35, 998, elected s first openly gay officeholr on Saturday when Bno Lozano won the mayoral race. Acrdg to Hoton’s OutSmart Magaze, as of January there were at least 52 LGBT ndidat across the state, chasg everythg om small-town mayor gigs to state reprentative seats to the ernor’s had bee well known Del R for his work to clean up the borr town’s waterways, acrdg to Into, an onle magaze produced by the gay onle datg app Grdr, and he cid to n for mayor 2016.

FIRST OPENLY GAY MAYOR OF DEL R TALKS ABOUT THE CHALLENG HE FACED OFFICE

In 2018, Bno “Ralphy” Lozano beme the first out gay man elected to mayor of Del R, Texas. * gay mayor of del rio *

Former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valz, who is openly gay, announced her tentn to n for ernor early January and has long been nsired the ont-nner to challenge Governor Greg Abbott November.

One of Valz’s fellow Democratic gubernatorial ndidat was Jefey Payne, an openly gay owner of a gay bar Dallas.

”The Del R episo, which was released Monday and filmed June durg Pri Month, followed Mayor Bno Lozano, Del R’s first openly gay elected official, and two LGBTQ+ muny members -- Joey and Esael -- as they prepared for the performance of a lifetime drag ont of their loved on and the town’s rints.

 MEET BNO RALPHY LOZANO MAYOR L R TEXAS FOUR CH HIGH HEELS GAY LGBT MUNY

Beg the youngt mayor elected the history of his town, Lozano has prevly worked as a flight attendant, served the armed forc, and is gay.

AFTER LANDSLI VICTORY, DEL R’S FIRST OPENLY GAY MAYOR PREPAR FOR OFFICE

We don’t have a gayborhood.

A part of me is gay. When you thk of Texas, homosexualy seems like a taboo society, even though is allowed by the law. Beg gay is a big advantage for his town and for himself, he says.

The Pri of Del RUned StatDocumentary10 MsThis May, Bno “Ralphy” Lozano beme not only the youngt-ever mayor of Del R, Texas, but also the cy’s first openly gay elected official. In this short documentary, meet the groundbreakg polician whose landsli victory over a middle-aged cumbent meant this borr town of 36, 000 elected an openly gay mayor before San Francis or New York did.

TEXAS TOWN ELECTS GAY AIR FORCE VETERAN KNOWN FOR WEARG HIGH HEELS

Lrdale’s recently elected gay mayor weathered attack ads which picted him as a ventriloquist dummy makp, Garza ngratulated his succsor this week on a well-n mpaign. The biggt challenge that lays ahead for the new mayor isn’t beg an openly gay man a town that’s as Catholic as is Lato; an timated 86 percent of Del R’s populatn is nonwhe. On Saturday, 62 percent of voters Del R ― loted about 110 wt of San Anton ― elected gay Air Force veteran Bno “Ralphy” Lozano as s 35-year-old Lozano is both the town’s youngt mayor and first openly gay official.

He prevly served as a secury law enforcement officer the Air Force and then was an activist who worked to help clean up lol waterways, acrdg to Although Texas is known for s nservative polics and Republins domate statewi offic, Lozano’s sexual orientatn was not an issue durg the mayoral mpaign the cy of about 41, 000 addn, there was barely a peep when he wore high heels to march the cy’s Veteran’s Day para last year ― jt a sgle Facebook post om a non-supporter who attacked him, acrdg to said he served the Air Force durg the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward gays, and cid not to re-enlist bee he was “not ashamed of who I am. ”Instead, he took spiratn om prev generatns of gays who ma possible for people like him to n for office whout hidg who he is.

”Lozano’s electn is fely a sign of progrs, but Del R, home to Lghl Air Force base, is by no means a gay mec. The town lacks a place where LGBTQ lols n meet or get accs to servic dited to their particular needs, and the clost gay bar is nearly three hours away, acrdg to Gay-Friendly Plac On The PlaPopular the CommunyYou May Like. Bno Lozano has broken que a lot of barriers Del R, Texas: om beg the cy's first openly gay official, to s youngt office, Lozano put this small borr town on the took a stand on immigratn by mandg more om his Democratic party at the borr.

GAY MAYOR OF DEL R, TEXAS STUNS AND STUNTS HBO’S ‘WE’RE HERE’

LOZANO: I'm also a queer guy, first openly gay elected official Del R, Texas. CHAKRABARTI: Bee so you anticipated my qutn about beg a gay man, was an issue the mpaign? CHAKRABARTI: I wanted to talk a ltle b more about you beg the first openly gay mayor of Del R.

CHAKRABARTI: Has your example and the fact that you were the lear of Del R as an openly gay man, do you thk 's changed the climate Del R for the other young people?

And I thk they try to make seem like I had a gay agenda.

TEXAS BORRTOWN ELECTS OPENLY GAY MAYOR WH A PENCHANT FOR HIGH HEELS AND GOVERNMENT ACUNTABILY

But then my rponse was always like, okay, well, if buildg better streets and roads is the gay agenda.

Shangela: You have a mayor, an elected official, who won as an out loud and proud gay person, and I thk that showed another layer of Del R.

VOTERS DEL R, TEXAS ELECT GAY MAYOR

Although they’re g the terms “like that” and ’s not fully clive, you have the gay mayor.

Bee a lot of tim a lot of the plac we go Del R, they uldn’t say gay.

It wasn’t their geic, DNA makp to say “gay.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY MAYOR OF DEL RIO

Texas Town Elects Gay Air Force Veteran Known For Wearg High Heels | HuffPost Voic .

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