NDN/NPI Welcomes Delegation From Border Region to Washington, Conducts High Level Meetings with Administration, Congress

Today, the Washington based think tank NDN and the New Policy Institute is welcoming a delegation of officials from the US side of the border region from Mexico.   At meetings at NDN/NPI and in the White House, the delegation will be meeting with representatives from the National Economic Council, the Domestic Policy Council, the Office of Public Engagement and the Departments of State, Commerce and Homeland Security.   The meetings will include a one hour session with the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano. Joining the delegation will be Congressmen Henry Cuellar and Silverstre Reyes.   

As part of the day long series of events, NDN and the New Policy Institute will be hosting a public forum at its offices at noon.  Several members of the delegation will be speaking about the challenges and the opportunities the border region faces today. The complete list of who is attending the meetings is below.

“Our goal today is to let leaders from the border region tell their story in their own words,” said NDN/NPI President Simon Rosenberg. “While there are clear challenges in the region, a great deal of progress had been made in recent years.  Crime on the US side of the border has dropped, illegal migration has slowed, seizures of bulk cash, illegal guns and drugs have increased and trade with Mexico is expanding. Mexico is now the 2nd largest export market for American goods, and our third largest trading partner.  Trade with Mexico now equals trade with the UK, Germany and Japan combined, and no region in America benefits more from this remarkable flow of trade than our border region with Mexico.”

Continued Rosenberg: “We all understand that the impression in the national media about the border region is not a positive one.  But that impression is incomplete, and does not tell the true story of progress being made both in the US and between our two countries.  Our 21st Century Border Initiative has been built in part to educate the public, policy makers and the press about the more complex realities of the border region, and to help build upon the very real and very exciting progress which has been made in recent years.” 

This day long set of meetings is the second such set of events NDN/NPI has held this year.  In September, NDN/NPI hosted 22 leaders from the border region in a similar set of discussions with leading members of the Administration.  All of this work is part of the think tank’s influential “21st Century Border Initiative,” which envisions a more dynamic, safer and economically vibrant region on both sides of the US-Mexican border.   For more on NDN/NPI’s work in this area, visit our new website, www.21border.com, and its YouTube site, http://www.youtube.com/21stcenturyborder, which features dozens of videos of leaders from the border region talking about the very real challenges and opportunities they face. 

Delegation List

Congressman Silvestre Reyes of El Paso, Texas
Congressman Henry Cuellar of Laredo, Texas
Luis J. Castro, Mayor , Calexico, CA
James Neujahr, Chief of Police, Calexico, CA
Julia Osuna, Economic Development Specialist, Calexico, CA
Adolfo Gonzales, Police Chief, National City, CA
Lupe Trevino, Sheriff, Hidalgo County, TX
Sheriff Martin Cuellar, Webb County, TX
Alejandro Gutierrez, Sheriff’s Office, Webb County, TX
Jose Salinas, Sheriff’s Office, Webb County, TX
Federico Garza, Sheriff’s Office, Webb County, TX
Carlos R. Maldonado, Police Chief, Laredo, TX
Carlos L. Garcia, Police Chief, Brownsville, TX