LaredoBuzz.Com

Courtesy Xochitl Mora,                                   

WASHINGTON DC—Safety, health, and grants were at the top of the priority list as City of Laredo officials met with federal agencies on the first day of their annual legislative trip to the nation’s capital. Mayor Raul G. Salinas lead the delegation, which included Council Members Gene Belmares, Johnny Rendon, and Hector Garcia, Chief of Police Carlos Maldonado and Fire Chief Steve Landin, as well as and City Health Director Hector Gonzalez, M.D., M.P.H., and City Manager Carlos Villarreal.

Mayor Salinas shared with the Justice Department that it needs to act now in terms of providing homeland security funding to help Laredo protect the city and the nation.

“We are faced with violence that threatens to spillover the border into the United States, and we do not want to be considered for additional funding after something catastrophic has happened,” said Salinas.  “The border needs to be protected so the rest of the nation can be protected.   I was delighted that Vice President Joe Biden, in a conversation we had last week, expressed a real interest in border security. We will continue to work with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security and Vice President Biden to ensure that Laredoans and the nation are kept safe.”

In the afternoon, the City of Laredo public safety team met with representatives of the Department of Homeland Security(DHS) to discuss pending grant applications for the police and fire departments. 

While support was being solicited from DOJ and DHS, Council Member Belmares and Laredo Health Director Dr. Gonzalez were across town, leading a delegation in meetings with U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS).   Like their public safety counterparts, this delegation discussed threats to public health, the role Laredo plays as the first line of defense to such threats, and the need for additional federal support.

They explained one of the challenges facing Laredo is that most federal grants are awarded based on city population, instead of urgency of need. Since a number of the population in Laredo is transient due to international tourism and trade, when that population mixes with the many under- or un-insured residents in Laredo, the nation is routinely presented with situations that could turn into national epidemics.  Laredo has served to stop a number of these threats in the recent past, but has never been adequately reimbursed for its efforts.

Dr. Gonzalez explained, “Everything we do is aimed at prevention at an international level, but carried out at as a local respond. We are doing the job of HHS to protect the U.S. , so we need to be invested in directly. We are an international community, and while tuberculosis cases are dropping elsewhere in the United States, we are still facing new cases everyday—and not just from residents of our community. New cases arrive from Brazil, Africa, India and wherever else immigrants and tourists come from.”

Tomorrow the delegation takes its message to the White House, the Hill, the State Department, Department of Energy, the Army Corp of Engineers and the Commerce Department.