 "Photo: Kim Espinosa")
Because Hispanic populations are the fastest-growing in Texas, the LBJ School's new Center for Politics and Governance hosted its inaugural conference Friday to address how Hispanic political involvement and immigration affect national policy.
"Someday the governor of Texas will be Hispanic," radio-television-film and public affairs professor Paul Stekler said while moderating a morning panel discussion. "You can't get a more relevant issue today."
The conference, titled "The Future Is Now: the Hispanic Impact on American Politics and Government," commemorated the center's public launch.
"The center is more of a community than an actual place," said Veronica Vargas Stidvent, the center's director.
Located on the third floor of the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the center plans to host public forums, conduct research and offer courses on current topics, Stidvent said.
"Our goal is that dialogue begun at the center will continue in ongoing discussions," she said.
Tamar Jacoby, a Manhattan Institute senior fellow who was on the panel Friday, said the center's dedication to speaking in depth about immigration issues impressed her.
"The border is sexy, but solutions lie in realistic laws dealing with supply and demand and labor needs," Jacoby said. Public policy needs to transcend partisan boundaries because everyone suffers when reforms fail, she added.
The growing Hispanic voting population was also discussed.
Hispanics currently vote about 70 percent Democrat and 30 percent Republican in Texas, said Michael Baselice, president of Baselice & Associates Inc. research firm.
But a growing number of Hispanics are abandoning entrenched political and commercial loyalties, said Frank Guerra, CEO of public relations firm Guerra DeBerry Coody. A desire for limited government and economic independence will likely attract new immigrants to the Republican Party, he said.
Regardless of partisanship, Hispanic voters polled by The Texas Lyceum responded that immigration is one of their top concerns, said associate government professor Daron Shaw.
Former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos asked panelists what the Mexican government's role in immigration should be. Some speakers said that although responsibility falls on the U.S., the country is failing at its job.
"Mexico is unable to control its southern border with Nicaragua," said Eddie Aldrete, senior vice president of IBC Bank. "A recipe for corruption" is what Aldrete called the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's recent reforms requiring increased numbers of guards at the border.
According to reforms passed last month, border patrol institutes will need to immediately graduate 7,000 more guards annually, without adequate numbers of supervisors, he said.
"We need to think in right and wrong, not Democrat and Republican," said state Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine. Gallego's 3-year-old son sat in his lap just before Gallego denounced border patrol raids on elementary schools and called on the consciences of parents in government.
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