Support American in El Paso, perhaps (8)
I believe the answer is:
espousal
'support' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'american in el paso perhaps' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'us'.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'perhaps' is an anagram indicator.
'el'+'paso'='elpaso'
'elpaso' is an anagram of 'espoal'.
'us' placed into 'espoal' is 'ESPOUSAL'.
(Other definitions for espousal that I've seen before include "old-fashioned marriage" , "Backing, support" , "Favourable reception" , "Adoption (of a cause) - USA's pole (anag)" , "Adoption, support (of)" .)