Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

County Attorney Jose Rodriguez, County Commissioner Veronica Escobar and City Rep. Susie Byrd flew to Washington Monday as part of a delegation of El Pasoans to lobby for immigration reform and the role of border communities in developing policy.

As members of the U.S.-Mexico Border and Immigration Task Force, they aim to submit a policy report offering “a new paradigm for immigration enforcement” that would “end misguided and fiscally irresponsible programs” such as the border fence initiative. The report will officially be released at a news conference tomorrow. You can read more about the effort here.

“Its mission is to propose alternative measures to what has been the trend in the last several years of anti-immigration legislation,” said Rodriquez, co-chair of the task force. The document represents 18 months of hard work, comprising around 70 proposals. With a new presidential administration about to begin, members of the task force are keen to influence policy at the national level.

“We're not going just to say 'we’re here, we want a seat at the table.' We’re going with solutions and recommendations for them,” said Escobar. The team will meet with congressmen, senators and hopefully members of the Obama transition team. As well as security and trade, the environment and human rights are on the agenda for the task force.

Escobar spoke about the Rio Bosque habitat: “It’s a tremendous outdoor natural asset and everyone can be very proud of the work done. But just as it is thriving, the federal government is going to build a wall right through it.”

Rio Bosque Park is a wetland administered by UTEP in the Lower Valley. Read more about it here.

Father Arturo Banuelas, of the Border Network for Human Rights, said the report’s 70 proposals “are a contribution in formulating a policy that is more just and promotes human rights.”

“The role of the church is to enter a dialogue so that the decisions made for the common good always take into consideration justice, human rights, a preference for the poor and those daily struggling to survive. The church wants to be there, offering that voice which is so often neglected in those decisions,” said Banuelas.

For the task force, better communication between cities like El Paso and the federal government is essential. The report calls for towns like El Paso to be given a much greater say in the decision-making process when it comes to border issues.

“If they’re not in contact with local communities then they’re making decisions that impact our ability to carve out our own future,” said Escobar.

Better dialogue between local and federal government will help the nation create a better border policy, said Rodriquez: “We need border legislation that makes sense, that’s practical, that takes into account the border communities and promotes not just national security but community security as well.”