EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — El Paso’s agreement with tech giant Meta has drawn growing public pushback in recent weeks, including opposition to a data center planned for the city’s Northeast.

Nearly 200 people signed up to speak during public comment to oppose the project. Among them was Marco Sanchez, a 15-year-old who said he lives less than a mile from the current construction site and has been speaking at multiple community meetings about his concerns.

“Good afternoon, council, Mayor Johnson,” Sanchez said during one appearance. “If I could please have all of y’all’s attention. I do see that a couple of you are looking down. Would really appreciate District Three. Mrs. Chavez, there we go, thank you very much.”

Sanchez, who said he is a rising sophomore in high school, described his involvement as personal and rooted in where he lives.

“It’s one who lives in the general region of the data center. In fact, I’m actually less than a mile away from its current construction site,” Sanchez said. “It’s really important to me to voice my concerns for my family, first and foremost, and then overall how our entire city and really our country is being affected.”

Sanchez also said he wants to see more community influence in decisions involving major corporations.

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“By corporatism and these tech giants being able to manipulate factors in their favor,” he said. “So I just want to make sure that people power is heard, and if I can help with that and add to that, it’s really important to me and it makes me feel accomplished.”

Sanchez said he founded the El Paso Youth Alliance and considers himself its acting president because he is currently the only person who publicly communicates about it.

He said the group’s immediate goal is to make it easier for young people and families to participate in civic processes, including signing up to speak at public meetings.

“If you want to step up on that podium, there are lots of hoops and loops that you have to jump through to actually sign up,” Sanchez said.

He said the alliance aims to help by providing links and information and by making parents comfortable bringing their children to participate.

Looking ahead, Sanchez said he wants the group to grow into a “powerful voter force” and eventually have a seat in higher-level discussions.

“The long-term future goal of EPYA would be to be able to have our own roundtable meetings, be enough of a powerful voter force that in the future, that we’ll be able actually sit in with our representatives at executive session meetings, with roundtable meetings, like the ones we saw with Metta,” he said.

Sanchez pointed to an example he said he wants to build on, referencing “Mrs. Carvajal from Sembrando Esperanza, a political action group,” who he said was able to participate in those discussions.

Asked what example he hopes to set for other young people, Sanchez said he wants to encourage youth involvement by being an early participant others can follow.

“Humans don’t really like to get involved until they see other people doing the same thing,” he said. “And if I’m able to become that first domino to bleed onto years and years of active youth community involvement, that is my final goal.”

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