Thread: Top El Paso Officials to Join Immig. Lobby to Washington

Immigration coalition to lobby Obama on reforms

By Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 11/12/2008 12:00:00 AM MST


EL PASO -- A delegation from El Paso that includes some top elected officials will join a coalition of immigrant advocates in Washington, D.C., next week to urge President-elect Barack Obama to adopt changes in immigration policies and procedures.

The coalition will present a 38-page report titled "Effective Border Policy: Security, Responsibility and Human Rights," which contains 70 recommendations for federal policymakers, community advocates and faith leaders.

One of the report's recommendations is to replace border operations such as "Hold the Line" in El Paso, which was instituted by U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, when he was El Paso's Border Patrol chief, with border community safety and security operations "that can distinguish between criminal activity and immigration violations."

Other recommendations deal with concerns over alleged warrantless searches by local law enforcement officers who enter homes and transport alleged undocumented immigrants to detention centers, and to put an end to racial profiling and workplace raids.

The gathering will include members of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant rights organization in Washington, D.C., and the U.S.-Mexico Border and Immigration Task Force, a coalition representing border communities in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

Among the El Pasoans expected to attend are El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez; Sheriff-elect Richard Wiles; West-Central city Rep. Susie Byrd; County Commissioner Veronica Escobar; Fernando Garcia, director of the Border Network for Human Rights; and Betty Camargo, the network assistant director.

"There's a lot of momentum É for this now," Camargo said. "Barack Obama promised to start the debate on immigration reform in his first year. We'd like to see border enforcement be integrated into the national immigration debate."

The Nov. 19 visit to the nation's capital to lobby Obama and lawmakers is a "groundbreaking collaboration of law enforcement, elected officials, faith leaders and immigration advocates who will issue a road map for keeping communities safe while protecting human rights," said Katherine Vargas, spokeswoman for the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant rights organization in Washington.

Ali Noorani, National Immigration Forum executive director, said John Podesta, head of Obama's transition team, recently announced Obama's willingness to review government regulations and policies that can be changed administratively.

"The promise to strip away agency practices inconsistent with (Obama's) vision of change comes not a moment too soon," Noorani said. "Our current system is fatally flawed, and while legislation will be required to ensure permanent reform, the necessity for change at the administrative level is a natural starting point."

"A welcome change," he said, "would also be the appointment of a Department of Homeland Security secretary and Immigration and Customs Enforcement assistant secretary who value the contributions of immigrants and immigration."

Reyes has been mentioned as a possible candidate for a high-level homeland security position; the coalition's report says he was helpful in putting the advocates in contact with key congressional leaders.

José Eduardo Borunda, political science professor at the Autonomous University of Chihuahua in Juárez, said Obama has a "historic opportunity to carry out immigration reform, because he received widespread citizen support for this (from voters), and he will have a majority in the Congress and House of Representatives that can help him make the changes needed to help undocumented immigrants who work in the United States."

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6140.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_10960397? ... st_emailed


What: The National Immigration Forum and members of the U.S./Mexico Border and Immigration Task Force news conference to present report "Effective Border Policy: Security, Responsibility and Human Rights."
When: 1 p.m. Nov. 19.
Where: Rayburn House Office Building 2212, Washington, D.C.
Information: Border Network of Human Rights, 577-0724.

A welcome change," he said, "would also be the appointment of a Department of Homeland Security secretary and Immigration and Customs Enforcement assistant secretary who value the contributions of immigrants and immigration."

In other words they want someone who will sit back and let the flow continue....no border, no law enforcement etc.

The voters did not give Obama a mandate to not enforce the immigration laws, stupid.

This the same County Attorney which will be going to Washington to lobby Obama for CIR. El Paso has experienced an enormous amount of commercial growth as a direct result of the transporation of goods across the border there made possible by NAFTA. It is only natural that they don't want to return to the "bad old days" economically.

County attorney to testify against border wall at Texas House hearing

Posted: Nov 12, 2008 04:47 PM PST

EL PASO, Texas - The El Paso county attorney will be testifying against the border wall before members of the State House of Representatives.

José RodrÃ*guez will attend a hearing in Austin on Thursday before the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus (MALC). RodrÃ*guez was invited to testify in relation to the federal lawsuit the county and the city of El Paso filed this summer, officials with the county attorney's office said.

He will challenge Congress' delegation of authority that allowed Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to waive more than 30 federal, state, and local laws. These regulations were to accelerate the construction of the border wall.

Testimony from participants will be used to formulate legislation in response to the border wall. Topics based on the effects the wall may have on Mexico, Texas and border communities will be shared.

According to a news release, RodrÃ*guez will argue to that a border wall will not keep immigrants out, but on the other hand, will bring serious environmental, economic and cultural consequences to the El Paso and Juarez region. He plans to tell the caucus that the expenses of the wall would be better invested in providing more resources for the federal agents that patrol the border.

RodrÃ*guez will also argue that the wall will symbolize a failed immigration policy, and a country that barricades itself from the rest of the world.

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=9339995