City council meetings in El Paso are not exactly known for being standing room only. But for weeks now, concerned residents have been packing those meetings, showing up on their own time, to voice their opposition to the Meta data center being built near U.S. Highway 54 and Stan Roberts Sr. Avenue in Northeast El Paso.
The response from those in power? Dismiss them.
Jon Barela, CEO of the Borderplex Alliance, the organization that brokered the Meta deal, stood before a room of supporters at the 2026 Global Border Summit at the Hotel Paso del Norte and had this to say about his own city’s concerned residents:…