Congressmen move to bring passport application office to Valley

[sonias]

Rio Grande Guardian 7/22/09
Congressmen move to bring passport application office to Valley

McALLEN, July 22 - Following a settlement agreement on the so-called passports/midwives issue, border congressmen plan to get a federal office established in the Rio Grande Valley to handle passport applications.

Currently, South Texas border residents have had to travel hundreds of miles to Houston for help with their passport applications.

"I am committed to working together with my colleagues in Congress to establish an office in deep South Texas, preferably in Brownsville or McAllen, where our constituents can find the help and support they need to fulfill their requirements for a passport," said U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes.

"This is vitally important in our border communities where trade and commerce have been adversely impacted."

Hinojosa made his comments after joining fellow border congressmen Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, for a meeting Tuesday with high ranking officials in the State Department.

Guess what? Now with the passport requirements to cross over into Mexico, many thousands of new people are going to get passports and they will have their IDs ready to vote too. Wouldn't that be a riot - if we kick up the voter turnout due to the burden of getting passports in the valley.

Si se puede!


Sonia

[WolverineDG]

1. The courthouse & post office were jam-packed the first 2 weeks of June

It took almost a month to get my passport & it had to go to Pennsylvania or some other far-off state, instead of HOUSTON where it has always been processed before.

A Valley office/processing center would be great!

dg

[sonias]

2. And a hat tip to the ACLU lawyers that one the case too

Vanita Gupta, staff attorney with the ACLU's Racial Justice Program. She was also the lead lawyer in the Tulia drug case where the defendants finally got justice against a corrupt evidence that under cover cop Tom Coleman made up.


:toast:


Sonia