“America, Democracy & Me” was the theme of the Polk County Democratic 2024 Summer Celebration June 13 at the Polk County Commerce Center. The featured speakers were Fabiola Olvera Benitez, a Texas Impact Author, and Texas State Representative Vikki Goodwin of District 47.
“Immigration in this country continues to be an emotional hot button issue. Our country was built on immigrants. We have to decide how we can still be a land of opportunity.” Dr. Ray Luna said as he introduced Olvera Benitez.
Olvera Benitez was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States with her mother when she was three years old and was raised in Rhode Island. As a formerly undocumented immigrant and a member of a mixedstatus immigrant family, her passion stems from having first-hand experience with the immigration system. She received her B.A. from Rhode Island College and her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law. She worked and lived in Boston, New York City and Los Angeles before moving to the Rio Grande Valley where she is currently based. She serves as the immigration education and advocacy manager for Texas Impact, working diligently on the U.S./Mexico border.
Texas Impact is an interfaith organization that brings together diverse people from across Texas to advocate on behalf of the common good. The issues on which its focuses are climate justice, economic justice, human rights and civic engagement. It equips people of faith and conscience with information, opportunities and outreach tools to educate their communities and engage with lawmakers on pressing public policy issues.
Olvera Benitez said she ended up in Rhode Island because she and her mother had cousins and friends there. “It’s not much different than what we’re seeing today, people go where they have family and know people,” she said.
Fully bilingual, Olvera Benitez was undocumented until she was 20 years old and was actually involved in her own case. “It was scary but it also inspired me to go down this path to law school,” she said.
“I became an immigration attorney, doing advocacy and policy and education, then joined Army reserves one weekend a month, and then began work with Texas Impact. It’s a cool job because I still use my legal background and do immigration work, but I also manage a program called Courts & Ports, a two-day program in the Rio Grande Valley where we go to border agent stations and learn from them,” she said.
“Immigration is a complex issue and not at all black and white. Through Courts & Ports, you get to see the realities of what’s happening on the ground – where state and federal agencies have not stepped up but communities have, like Brownsville, McAllen and Harlingen. You get to see the current state of democracy and what’s happening.”
Courts & Ports is a twoday immersion experience designed to build understanding of the many challenges facing migrants and public servants at the Texas-Mexico border. The project builds on work Texas Impact has been doing for years with faith communities across the state in building bridges between direct action and policy advocacy. Bearing witness to the current situation on the border helps equip people of faith from across Texas for potent advocacy for just immigration policies. Through interactions with policy experts, law enforcement officials, volunteers, and asylum seekers, participants gain perspective on the unique constellation of policy, logistical, and humanitarian issues in play.
Olvera Benitez showed a video of the Rio Grande River, the concertina wire and the big wall. “Our policies are very deterrent-focused. You kind of have to dig for the truth.
The executive order that President Biden signed suspends the entry of anyone else coming in that is not eligible to claim asylum. There’s exceptions for unaccompanied children, victims of trafficking,” she said.
Olvera addressed Title 42, SB 4 and Operation Lone Star. Title 42 is the name of an emergency health authority that was a holdover from the Trump administration, allowing U.S. officials to turn away migrants who came to the U.S./Mexico border on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID. SB 4 is a new law that authorizes state and local police to detain and arrest people suspected of crossing into the U.S. in Texas from Mexico without legal authorization. The law also empowers magistrate judges to order migrants to return to Mexico or face stiffer criminal penalties for noncompliance.
Operation Lone Star is a joint operation between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department along the U.S./Mexico border in South Texas. The operation, which started in 2021 and is ongoing, is intended to counter a rise in illegal immigration, the illegal drug trade and human smuggling, according to Governor Greg Abbott.
“It just seems a waste of time and money and jailing people. Eleven billion dollars has been spent on Operation Lone Star and there seems to be no end in sight as to what they’re willing to spend. Eighteen other states have sent their National Guard members to help at the border. This is the way our state has chosen to handle the immigration issue and they’re spending a lot of money and not making much progress,” Olvera Benitez said.
“The policies that we have in place right now are keeping people in danger in Mexico and lining the pockets of the criminal cartels. These are not long term or sustainable solutions,” she said.
Next up was Goodwin who is serving her third term as representative of Western Travis County. She attended the event on behalf of the Colin Allred Campaign for U.S. Senate.
“Why? I believe I am here on his behalf because we need a new U.S. senator. We need to not feel embarrassed by our senator. He and I both ran in 2018, we both had very tough races and we both prevailed,” Goodwin said of Allred.
Goodwin said Allred is the first congressman to take parental leave, adding, “The U.S. is the only developed country that doesn’t have parental leave.
“Remember what Ted Cruz did during Winter Storm Uri? Colin Allred will not do that. He will be here for his people. Congressman Allred and I both understand how important it is to work bipartisan to get things done,” Goodwin said.
“I am working very hard to build relationships across the state. We can’t get the big things done like expanding Medicare, paying teachers, campaign finance laws if we don’t work together. That’s why I’m announcing tonight that I plan to run for lieutenant governor in 2026,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin reviewed some of the bills she has passed.
She mentioned one regarding drowning prevention, called Cati’s Act, that puts safety measures in place as a way to minimize drownings of children under 12 through stricter water safety measures. The legislation stemmed from a family in her district whose six-yearold daughter drowned at a summer camp.
She mentioned the Natalia Cox bill that requires police and doctors to give family or dating violence victims a list of resources and legal options like filing criminal charges or getting an emergency protective order. It stems from a 21-year-old who was shot and killed.
Commenting that we all know that mental health is an issue, she mentioned AcuDetox, which is a treatment method that can provide symptom relief during the withdrawal management phase of recovery, entailing the use of acupuncture to help reduce the severity of withdrawal symptoms.
“My passion is public education. That is the backbone of our communities. Vouchers will only hurt our communities. The solutions are complicated and yet the Republicans aren’t solving anything. It’s really important that we make sure that all of the statehouse candidates do well in November. This is not a Republican state. It’s a nonvoting state. Just remember this November and moving forward, we need a good win for Texas,” Goodwin concluded.
Willie White, president of the Democratic Club of Polk County, addressed the crowd.
“This is a presidential election year. I hope we will roll up our sleeves and work hard to reelect Joseph Biden as president of the United States and Kamala Harris as the vice president of the United States. We also want Colin Allred in the Senate. We need to retire Ted Cruz. We also need to have Laura Jones in the House of Representatives,” White said.
“All of you who are here tonight, I’d just like to thank you for being Democrats. This is a fundraiser but it’s also a time to celebrate being Democrats.” Remembering a song from his childhood, “This Little Light of Mine,” White said, “We have a light, and we are going to let it shine, let them know who we are and what we’re about.
“As I look at this crowd tonight, I am elated at what I see. A few years ago, it would have been impossible to get this many people in this room,” White said.
“This is exciting to be in a room full of so many Democrats. It’s just wonderful,” Ann Turney, chair of the Polk County Democratic Party, said.
“I want more precinct chairs. We can have up to 22, but we presently only have seven. We had a good group that went to the Democratic State Convention in El Paso. And some of the most important people are the people who staff the polls. They are the folks that get the polls open, that make sure it’s a safe place for you. We need to have a Democrat at every polling place every hour of the day to make sure the elections are being run fairly,” Turney said.
Barbara Compton, chair of the club’s federal funding research committee, spoke.
“We need to say thanks to Joe (Biden) for the American Rescue Plan Act and how it affected Polk County. Polk County received over $9 million that went to the following projects that are either completed or in progress: a communications tower in a rural area, fiber optics expansion, upgraded roads and bridges and funds for upgrading our volunteer fire departments,” Compton said.
Scholarship Committee Chair Ann McDonald presented a report.
“We started a scholarship committee back in 2020 because we wanted more visibility. Ann Turney came up with the idea of giving scholarships in the club’s name. In the 2020-2021 school year, we gave eight $500 scholarships and in the 2021-2022 school year we gave eight $500 scholarships again. In the 2022-2023 school year we gave four $1,000 scholarships. This year, in 2024, we received applications from every school district in Polk County, we had 24 applicants, and we gave 19 $1,000 scholarships.
For additional information on the Democratic Club of Polk County or the Polk County Democratic Party, the club meets monthly at 10 a.m. at the Polk County Democratic Headquarters at 3626 Hwy. 190 West in Livingston. The next meeting is slated for July 6.
Comment
Comments