EL CENIZO, TX: A Mexican Town INSIDE The United States - Only Language Spoken Is Spanish

all right everyone I am entering a small town called el cenizo it is a Border Town uh it is a really fascinating place uh oh wow what do we got here I just got here um well looks like I'm not gonna go there I just entered the town I was going to tell you a little bit about it I drove through here yesterday and it's unlike any place I have ever seen in the United States uh I'm gonna have to turn around here a lot of cross-border activity and illegal drug activity uh happens here from what I understand um so wow right off the bat as soon as I uh arrive in town anyway I'm going to well I guess I'm going to turn around and head in in a different place so I'm going to do that right now all right uh I'm a little farther into town I actually had police following me there for a little bit um I guess he ran my plates and determined that I was okay so he pulled away from me but there's definitely some sort of uh illegal activity going here because the police are everywhere anyway I'm gonna get back to what I was doing and that is to show you this Border Town uh I was looking at the uh well first let me tell you about the times it's been in the national news a couple of times uh 2000s I want to say 2006 the city was uh mired in a little bit of controversy because Spanish was the official language and uh they backtracked a little bit after getting a lot of criticism and said that they conduct business in Spanish and English here but the reality is 100 of the people who live here speak Spanish uh the city or the town really is uh 98.9 percent Hispanic and um a significant percent of these people and I'm talking significant are not here in the country legally now um I told you about the cross-border stuff that happens here that's the Rio Grande I'm gonna go down there later but it's real easy to cross here anyway more about the town in 2017 Texas passed sb4 which basically says that it's illegal to be a sanctuary City here in Texas this little town was the first to file a lawsuit against it and uh eventually Dallas San Antonio Houston and Austin all joined in but the town was received a lot of national attention because of that as well this little town right here uh the wife and I we had a about an hour to kill before we could check in our hotel so and that's in Laredo which is about 15 miles from here so we came here just for a laugh to explore and uh whoa never seen any place in the U.S like this one now I was looking up the numbers of the town um I looked up the latest census figures which are not are most likely not accurate because from what I understand this town had a very low percentage of census participation so uh they weren't able to really get accurate numbers the official tally of population here in 2020 was around 2 500 people um closer probably to 3 300 is what I'm reading now that was formerly a grocery store I think there's a store here I know there's not any gas stations um we'll take a look at some of the other statistics the uh I think I can go this way like I said I'm trying to avoid all that police activity yeah the per capita income of this town and this is 2020 census figures is 9733 uh 33 a year ninety seven hundred dollars a year that's what the average person here lives on uh median household income is twenty two thousand six hundred look at that it has a car wash looks like that's a little store there too okay anyway um a number that really stuck out for me is the percent of people here who live here who have graduated high school um 40.8 percent yeah just over 40 percent just shy of 41 of the people who live here have graduated high school uh the poverty level officially is uh 47.5 percent that is very high um again and it might not be the correct number it might actually be higher because of the low census participation rate the 2000 census actually had poverty here at 68 which is astonishing uh I'm showing you the town though I don't know if it particularly will surprise anyone this is a very very poor town and I'm just driving through the town here uh let me show you on the maps just kind of cruising along the border here that's the Rio Grande to the left um like I said I will go down there here in a bit just want to show you this town this has got to be one of the poorest towns in the entire country I was checking the official Facebook page of the town uh there hasn't been a post on it since 2018 this is a basically a Mexican border town that is inside the U.S according to the census the average home value here is 57 000. I checked Zillow and there's one house for sale here and they're asking sixty thousand dollars for it um I was reading I think it was a Texas monthly article about this town and it said that the people here have a saying it's in Spanish of course I can't pronounce it but basically they say they are not from here that be in the U.S nor are they from there that be in Mexico I found that really interesting they think of themselves I guess as living in no man's land which is kind of what this place is check out a few more of the streets yeah that one's uh that one is done for isn't it yeah I'm just I'm flabbergasted at how much trash I'm seeing just uh tossed to the side of the road whole field of it here that's Mexico there in the distance that's not trash strewn yeah that little Valley down there that's where the river is the Rio Grande see what's up this street all right foreign the current mayor someone doesn't like her apparently yeah Elsa Di gallado look at that house that's real nice huh and this is what you have next door well yes see the dogs in they're just everywhere lots and lots of dogs running around Steve getting in the Halloween spirit there it's a Monday morning at 10 20. I want to drive through town for the uh after the kids got in school and just show it to you there's only about five or six streets I've actually shown you the majority of the town right now except for that Main Street I definitely want to show you that I don't think I'm going to try to head over there um yeah I'll show you where I'm at so yeah just looking directly over at the Rio Grande there we have folks living in all these places foreign I'm not sure if that is some sort of medical facility or they just sell insurance huh let's take a look over here folks getting ready for Halloween and it's gracious looks like that one burned down look at all those dogs Beware of the Dog now they sure didn't act very mean did they El cenizo you may be wondering what that translates into um I looked it up from what I can tell I guess there are two translations uh it translates into the Unlucky person which I found interesting it is also the name or the name of a bush or a shrub that's more commonly known as Texas sage now I'm familiar with that I had two Texas sage bushes in my backyard in Suburban Dallas and they're beautiful they're Gray with I want to say pinkish flowers I didn't know that that particular shrub or Bush was called kanizo or cenizo whichever it is but anyway somebody who's fluent in Spanish can correct me there I'm only fluent in kitchen Spanish and that's just for those of you who have ever worked in restaurants uh usually a colorful combination of swear words in Spanish so I know all those words really well because if you uh work in a restaurant especially in Texas you'll most likely have a Spanish-speaking kitchen and those guys are usually really cool lifelong friends I have gotten uh in places like restaurants that are Hispanic anyway lost delicious I don't know if that's supposed to be a restaurant look like a home it's got a sign on it huh so I'm just going to kind of cruise through here a little bit is that a house I don't think that's a house that's something else isn't it I'm not sure what now the church is going to be here that's actually quite beautiful hmm all right all right I'm heading down this Main Street again I still got some people there that's quieted down a little bit but I think what I'm going to do is just go around the block here well maybe I can go through let me see I'll see if I can go through okay I just passed through it's no big deal so I'm just going to show you this part of the town and then go into uh or go down towards the Rio Grande that is what whatever it is they have as a fire department they don't have trained firemen they have some volunteers that is it and I was reading it's because the city or the town is unable to afford a fully trained uh firemen so they just don't have one basically the Main Street of the town yeah this will go right to the Rio Grande I'm gonna head down there now there's City Hall so oh there is a yeah there's a restaurant there I believe that is open and let me swing around here a city hall uh and the activity center the mayor here I read makes 100 a month it's crazy the dogs here just run wild uh he's a Barker just where I come from in Suburban Texas you will never see that dogs have to be on a leash but here they just run wild you can see one here he's just hanging out on the road anyway I'm gonna head down here to the Rio Grande it's right here that's it got a steep little drive here we've got a guy fishing I'll just get out and take a look real quick yeah there it is and we get out here and get a closer look-see all right so I'm out here uh this guy fishing over there so I'll just leave him alone a lot of trash here which you hate to see a couple of dogs very friendly uh looks like they're looking for some food anyway I don't have any food with me uh yeah so there on the Mexican side you can see it's very thick growth there but I've read what happens is people will cross here on inner tubes it's pretty deep here but yeah in this spot this is where border patrol catches a lot of people and up that way always I'm surprised there's not any down here we came down here the wife and I yesterday and there was border patrol just parked here they didn't mess with this but um yeah except for the trash it is really beautiful here it's really a beautiful River it's too bad so much of it has to be kept away from people that's the way it is though all right well uh I'm going to end the video here then just wanted to show you this town because there's a fascinating place at least to me it was really interesting so anyway the next video will be me going from San Ignacio I think I'm pronouncing that right up into Laredo along the border another border uh Trail video so that will be next you're looking for that one

Channel: Joe & Nic's Road Trip

Views: 221,523

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Id: LII-jvUvyQI

Length: 25min 15sec (1515 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 04 2022