Putting Scripture Into Action, Valley Interfaith Transforms Border Colonias
[Excerpt]
Eddie Anaya, a Catholic lawyer and lifelong resident of a colonia called Las Milpas, got involved as a young man with Valley Interfaith, an affiliate of the West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation, because his Mexican immigrant mother, Carmen Anaya, was one of its co-founders. When he was growing up, Anaya said Las Milpas had no water, sewers, street paving or lighting or police force.
Anaya chauffeured his mother around the state and interpreted for her at meetings with other Texas IAF affiliates as they championed 1989 state legislation that provided funding for water and wastewater infrastructure, which Anaya said stimulated other improvements in the community.
In Las Milpas, where the Catholic Church is the center of community life, Anaya said, conversations after Mass shaped a political agenda for the whole community through Valley Interfaith and backed by the Diocese of Brownsville. “ When you organize around Scripture and put it into action, that not only strengthens the community, but also makes people understand the Gospel much better,” said Anaya….
(Photo Credit: Eddie Anaya)
Read moreValley Interfaith Shuts Down a Crusher Plant in Brownsville, Texas
10 months after Valley Interfaith leaders in Brownsville led a community outcry about the impact of clay dust emanating from a Milwhite industrial plant on the South Padre Highway, the company agreed to cease operations in that location.
In December of 2023, Valley Interfaith leaders told graphic stories about the health impacts of Milwhite plant operations at an assembly they organized. In addition to new skin conditions developing among infants and adults, excessive white dust, noise and truck movement was making life intolerable for nearby residents.
"We’re literally breathing in the dust particles,” said Valley Interfaith leader Adhlemy Sanchez.
Valley Interfaith challenged the Mayor of Brownsville to address the situation, and the City of Brownsville responded. They soon filed a lawsuit, as did the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). On October 28, 2024 the City announced the resolution of the lawsuit, in which Milwhite Inc. agreed to stop crushing operations at their plant.
City of Brownsville and Milwhite, Inc. Reach Beneficial Resolution for Residents, City of Brownsville
Video: Valley Interfaith Leader Stories, Rio Grande Guardian
Valley Interfaith to Hold Town Hall Meeting on Milwhite Relocation, Rio Grande Guardian [pdf]
Brownsville Leaders Sympathetic to Residents Living Next to Milwhite Industrial Plant, Rio Grande Guardian [pdf]
Texas IAF Rally Takes On "Vampire" Chapter 313 Legislation
[Excerpt]
A surprising legislative success in 2021 is on track to be undone in 2023, unless a grass roots left-right coalition can block legislation and the forces behind it that are trying to go backward....
In the name of jobs and economic development, a 2012 tax code trick called Chapter 313 essentially funneled state money, via school district property tax breaks, to private companies doing new industrial construction. The school districts that granted tax breaks under Chapter 313 were reimbursed — and many still are being reimbursed — by the state, meaning we as taxpayers reimbursed them. It was the ultimate insider game of channeling public benefit to private companies.
The [Texas] Industrial Areas Foundation cleverly brought a man dressed as Dracula to its rally to dramatize how Chapter 313 unfairly drained school districts of funds and that reviving this bad economic development deal would be akin to raising the undead.
Read moreRemembering Fr. Alfonso M. Guevara
Fr. Alfonso Guevara, a long-time clergy leader with Valley Interfaith, passed away on February 10. He was worked for many years to help ordinary men and women develop their confidence and skills people so they could do extraordinary things in the parishes and communities. Here are a few statements made by Fr. Guevara to the Rio Grande Guardian.
Some reflections from Fr. Alfonso Guevara [pdf]
Tributes Pour In for Valley Interfaith Clergy Leader Alfonso Guevara, Rio Grande Guardian [pdf]
Read moreNational Catholic Reporter Spotlights IAF Assistance with Synod Process
[Excerpt]
"They've developed a process of attentive listening over the years, talking to people about their lives and identifying the needs of a particular group," said [Bishop Mark] Seitz. "When we were trying to create a process for the synod, it occurred to me it was exactly the approach they'd long taken."
Read moreValley Interfaith: We decry Gov. Abbott’s signing of new anti-immigrant state laws
[Photo Credit: Steve Taylor, Rio Grande Guardian]
[Excerpt]
"Our immigration system is outdated, and Congress has been unable to update it in decades. As a result, Governor Abbott and his enablers in the Texas Legislature are coming up with ever more questionable ways to spend billions of Texas taxes to militarize border enforcement and criminalize migrants who are fleeing political, religious and criminal violence and persecution in countries across the world. Frustration over our broken immigration system is allowing the Governor and Texas Legislature to adopt inappropriate and self-defeating strategies like SB 4 and SB 3.
SB 4 will make it a state crime for anyone to cross the Texas-Mexico border between ports of entry. Under the current immigration law, only 1450 people each day can legally cross the US-Mexico border at ports of entry and seek asylum. Many thousands more, fearing the violence and cartels on the Mexico side of the border, choose to cross between ports of entry and immediately turn themselves into border patrol officers and seek asylum. If state and local officers interact before they turn themselves into border patrol, they are liable under SB 4."
Valley Interfaith: We decry Gov. Abbott’s Signing of New Anti-Immigrant State Laws, Rio Grande Guardian [pdf]
Texas Bishops: 'Electrical Grid Failure in Texas Was No Accident'
[Excerpt below]
While we desperately need immediate relief, we must also seek long-term systemic change.
As faith leaders, we have a responsibility to cry out for the vulnerable and seek the common good, and this means the reform of a utility system that has served as a means for profit, putting profit before people.
Last week, The Network of Texas Industrial Areas Foundation Organizations with interfaith leaders from across the state held a press conference, urging the governor and legislature to take responsibility and put people before profits. It is time to direct recovery resources and restructure utility oversight to protect all, especially the poorer residents already on the edge because of the pandemic.
Bishops in Texas: Electrical Grid Failure was Preventable. Without Accountability, It Will Happen Again, America Magazine [pdf]
'They Were Not Prepared': After Winter Crisis, Texas Will Have to Confront its Energy, Politics and Culture, Dallas Morning News [pdf]
Texas IAF Declares State Power Failure an 'Act of Sheer Negligence,' Demands Accountability from State Leaders
[Excerpts]
While state officials announced later in the day that power had stabilized and forced shutoffs were no longer needed, more than 300,000 households remained without power....Texas was especially hard hit because most of its power grid is isolated from the interconnected networks serving the eastern and western parts of the U.S. That made it difficult to import energy from other states when frozen pipes shut down generating station.
The failure of Texas' electric grid led faith leaders across the state on Thursday to call out Gov. Greg Abbott for a lack of leadership and preparation. They urged him to request assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Administration and dip into the state's $10 billion "rainy-day" fund to help Texans cover expensive home repairs and energy bills.
They also called on state leaders to act on a 2012 plan to modernize and weatherize the electric grid....
"We are calling for Gov. Abbott to first take responsibility for this gross negligence and stop finger-pointing. This is a gross act of negligence that has caused harm to the whole state of Texas, and it's time to put people over profits," the Rev. John Ogletree of the First Metropolitan Church of Houston said at a virtual press conference Thursday. The event was organized by the Network of Texas IAF Organizations, a nonpartisan coalition of 10 mostly faith-based organizations statewide that represents more than 1 million people.
"The state leadership has known that this needed to change, and they have done nothing," Elizabeth Valdez, director of Texas IAF, told EarthBeat.
"The storm may have been an act of nature, but the devastation of the electrical grid shutdown is an act of sheer negligence," Auxiliary Bishop Greg Kelly of the Dallas Diocese added in a statement.
Kelly and other faith leaders who spoke during the press conference and with EarthBeat described the struggles facing their state's people because of the freeze: Temperatures in homes hovering at 30 degrees. Elderly people unable to use dialysis machines. A 76-year-old woman sleeping in her car for warmth. Churches that would typically offer shelter could not because they too lacked power and water...
Texas Faith Leaders Call Out 'Sheer Negligence' Behind Power Outages, National Catholic Reporter [pdf]
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Says Lawmakers Must Require Weatherization of Power Plants - And Pay For It, Dallas Morning News [pdf]
Press Conference Footage, Facebook Live
'They Were Not Prepared': After Winter Crisis, Texas Will Have to Confront its Energy, Politics, and Culture, Dallas Morning News [pdf]
Valley Interfaith Fights for Expansion of Housing Relief, Hidalgo Starts with $7.5M in Rent and Mortgage Support
Eddie Anaya, a member of Valley Interfaith, asked commissioners during the public comment section of the meeting to consider raising the program’s funding to $25 million.
“In just over three months, as of May 18, 2020, the Texas Workforce Commission reported 25,667 residents in Hidalgo County lost their job and filed for unemployment,” Anaya said. “Then there’s the other countless taxpayers and residents from Hidalgo County who are ineligible for unemployment, insurance or CARES Act benefits. Valley Interfaith is proposing that you help these families through a renter’s assistance program.”
Joe Hinojosa, a Valley Interfaith leader from Holy Spirit Church in McAllen, said the pandemic has been “incredibly painful” and noted that nearly 40% of Hidalgo County residents are uninsured.
Through the nonprofit, he also urged commissioners to increase funding for the Indigent Health Program. They are currently investing $6.1 million, Hinojosa said, urging them to increase it to $15.3 million, or 8% of the county’s total budget. Hinojosa also suggested commissioners loosen that program’s restrictions and allow families that are at 100% or below the federal poverty line to apply for healthcare assistance, as opposed to the current cutoff at 30%.
[Photo credit: Joel Martinez, The Monitor]
Hidalgo Co. Starts $7.5M Rent, Mortgage Relief Program, The Monitor [pdf]
In Wake of Wage Theft, Valley Interfaith Calls for Incentives Reform and Investigations
In small group conversations organized through their congregations, Valley Interfaith leaders Elisa Alfaro of Holy Spirit parish and Dayra Campos of San Juan Diego kept hearing the same stories: workers in cold storage facilities earning less than the minimum wage and experiencing rampant labor abuse.
While the federal minimum wage is $7.25, parishioners shared that they are often paid less than half that by McAllen producers. When one company closed access to the bathroom for employees, they were forced to walk 10 minutes to a gas station for their bathroom break. Another parishioner shared constant threats by their boss if they were to admit working 10 hours per day for $600 per month (less than half the minimum wage).
In response, Valley Interfaith leaders are calling on the City of McAllen to ensure that no company that pays workers under the minimum wage, or is guilty of wage theft, receives incentives from the city. They are also calling on the City to investigate abusive labor practices. Leaders are now meeting with the McAllen Economic Development Corporation and McAllen City Manager about making these changes.
"Nobody should earn a slave wage," said Elisa Alfaro.
[Image Credit: KVEO footage]
Faith Leaders, Lawyer: Wage Theft Rampant at Local Cold Storage Facilities, The Monitor [pdf]
Produce Industry Wage Dispute, KVEO [pdf]
Fair Pay a Distant Dream for Produce Packers in the Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio Express-News