By WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - In his State of the Union, President Donald Trump said a "powerful barrier" had cut crime rates and turned El Paso from one of the nation's most dangerous cities into one of its safest.

He's holding a rally in the West Texas city on Monday, and signed a 2017 executive order expanding a wall blocking its border with neighboring Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

But many residents bristle at the prospect of the home becoming a poster child of sorts for the president's pet policy.

They say the city was among the nation's safest per capita long before there were reinforced border walls, and that it embodies a binational spirit that transcends walls - rather than prove they work.

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