EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The El Paso County Attorney’s Office was recently honored with an prestigious award from the American Bar Association for outstanding service and innovative legal achievements involving their work to remediate the Gateway Hotel in Downtown El Paso.
The County Attorney’s Office was honored on July 31 with the national 2026 Hodson Award during a ceremony in Chicago.
Gateway Hotel to stay shut under settlement agreement
The award, presented by the ABA’s Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division(GPSLD), recognizes “one exceptional government or public sector law office in the UnitedStates each year for outstanding service and innovative legal achievements,” a news release from the County Attorney’s Office said.The El Paso County Attorney’s Office was selected for “its innovative and proactive use ofTexas civil nuisance laws to remediate the Gateway Hotel, successfully eliminating alongstanding center of criminal activity while prioritizing the humanitarian needs of vulnerablemembers of the community,” the County Attorney’s Office said.During her acceptance speech, El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez emphasized thecollaborative effort behind the legal victory.“This recognition reflects not only the dedication of the lawyers and staff I am privilegedto work alongside, but also the enduring values and legacy of public service that define ouroffice,” Sanchez said.The office’s Nuisance Abatement Team successfully shifted the burden of public safetyfrom reactive policing to proactive civil litigation, the County Attorney’s Office said.
This strategy addressed a “multi-year crisis” at the Gateway Hotel, which had operated for six years without a valid certificate of occupancy and had been the site of nearly 700 police service calls over a two-year period, the County Attorney’s Office said…