What Donald Trump gets wrong about the border; El Paso Rep. Beto O'Rourke explains what the GOP frontrunner misses about Mexican immigrants (and everything else).

• Author: Welch, Matt
• Position: Interview

ON JULY 8, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, who had rocketed to the top of national polls by decrying the dangerous criminality of immigrants crossing into America from Mexico, was asked by MSNBC to respond to the fact that the border town of El Paso, Texas, is the safest big city in the United States. "OK, OK," the reality TV star interrupted, sneering. "Don't try and convince me there is no crime, that it's wonderful.... It's a disgrace. Don't tell me about safety. Are you trying to justify safety on the border? I don't think so."

The next day, the congressional representative from El Paso, Democrat Beto O'Rourke, invited Trump to join him the following month on a IOk run straddling the U.S.-Mexico border--the first such binational race between the border neighbors in 15 years. "El Paso is the safest city in the country in large part BECAUSE of (not in spite of) the large number of immigrants who call our city home," Rep. O'Rourke wrote on his Facebook page. To drive home the point on race day, the young congressman wore a Trump-style baseball cap with the inscription "The Border Makes America Great."

Beto O'Rourke has one of the more unusual resumes in Congress. Like many Tea Party Republicans, but precious few of his fellow Democrats, O'Rourke came to the House of Representatives by successfully challenging a sitting incumbent, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, in 2012. More unusual still was the main issue separating the two. O'Rourke, a former El Paso city councilman, favored the legalization of marijuana; Reyes, a longtime Border Patrol agent, attacked O'Rourke for sponsoring a 2009 El Paso City Council resolution urging the federal government to have "an open and honest debate" about ending prohibition. The congressman also supports term limits, and he wants to roll back what he regards as questionably constitutional powers granted to law enforcement.

A youthful 42, O'Rourke is a former Brooklynite, has played in rock bands, and is an avid outdoorsman. Editor in Chief Matt Welch spoke to the congressman by phone in mid-September.

reason: I'm curious to know whether Donald Trump ever took you up on your offer to see what the border looks like down El Paso way?

Beto O'Rourke: No, he didn't. We'd invited him to do this run that we helped put together with the El Paso Community Foundation. It was a IOK that started in El Paso and finished at the International Port of Entry coming back in from Juarez. So half in El Paso, half in Juarez. If he could see it for himself and, you know, meet the people, the community, it's not as scary as he makes it out to be.

I think he knows that, but it also is something that plays very well with people who don't know the border, and aren't familiar with it, and maybe are scared of Mexicans from Mexico and just people who are a little different than what they think the average American is. But all the stuff that he's saying in some ways is an opportunity for people to talk about stuff that should be talked about. So to that end, I think he's helpful.

reason: What does the Republican field, including Trump, get wrong the most when they talk about immigration and the border?

O'Rourke: I would say Republicans certainly, but even Democrats to a large extent, don't understand the relative security of the border today. Even the president when he was outlining his immigration priorities [said], "Point number one: We will secure the border." You're really working against the law of diminishing returns at this point. You're spending $18 billion per year. You have record low numbers of northbound...