After extensive organizing by EPISO to block the largest planned ICE detention center in the nation, the Trump administration is now abandoning its proposal – a major victory for leaders who’ve fought for decades to protect local water and the dignity of their neighbors. 

The Rev. Loyd Divinagracia encouraging parishioners with EPISO after meeting with Lower Valley Water District Board in Socorro, Texas

In their town of 30,000, EPISO leaders from Socorro, TX learned that ICE bought three warehouses for $123M to create one of the largest immigrant detention centers in the country, threatening to detain 8,500 people. Refusing to accept this, they organized hundreds of residents, ultimately scaling back detention center plans and postponing the construction start date.

After nearly three years of organizing, EPISO-Border Interfaith leaders from Bauman Rd celebrated a major victory Wednesday: the City of Socorro revised its “Arterial 1” proposal, renouncing its initial plan to build a major road through the heart of their neighborhood. The move would have impacted over 100 families and displaced dozens of longtime residents—many elderly and living on fixed incomes—who had spent decades building their homes.

EPISO/BI members who live on Bauman Road in Socorro have been working tirelessly for over a year to keep their homes from being demolished. The City of Socorro and TXDOT have been planning to construct an arterial connection to the 1-10 that may run through their homes.  Leaders and neighbors are calling on the City and TXDOT to choose a route that affects fewer families, and avoids displacing those who are elderly and on limited incomes.

[Excerpt]

Neighbors in Socorro are fighting against a road expansion project that they say would end up demolishing about 100 of their homes.

The road expansion project, called Arterial 1, would connect Socorro Road to Interstate 10 by turning a two lane road into four.

There are different alternatives to the project but community advocate Lorena Silvestre, the leader of the El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization (EPISO) says one would affect more residents than the other.

"One of them ...pass[es] along the Bauman Road and Vineyard Road and then alternative two and three goes further down to Clint," said Silvestre.

Longterm Socorro Residents Concerned That Road Project Could Displace Them, KTSM [pdf]

Socorro Neighbors Unite Against Road Project Threatening Their Homes, KFOX14 [pdf]