Rio Grande Guardian's Podcast

EDINBURG, Texas - The director of Hidalgo County’s Community Service Agency (CSA) says Rotarians from across South Texas were shocked when he told them the extent of the cuts his agency is facing, should Congress adopt President Trump’s budget proposals.   Jaime R. Longoria met recently with Rotarians from across the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, and the Coastal Bend.   Specifically, Longoria spoke about cuts to the Low-Income Household Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a utility assistance program designed to assist low-income households in meeting their immediate energy needs.    Longoria said that in President Trump’s budget, $8 million that comes to Hidalgo County for LIHEAP “would disappear.” He said: “That's $8 million to assist about 8,000 families across Hidalgo County afford utilities.”   Longoria continued: “Now, those 8,000 families, I know we like to villainize… I spoke at a meeting of the Rotarians across South Texas, and I mentioned, we like to villainize the vulnerables, that, well, these are people that maybe don't want to work. These are people that are of another country.    “But in reality, about 45 percent of those 8,000 are people over the age of 60. About 30 percent of those families, those individuals that come to us are children under the age of 18. So that's 75 percent of our population that is either elderly or are under the age of 18.    “So, these stereotypes that we have of who we're helping, who CSA is helping, it does not hold a lot of water. I know that the Rotarians were shocked when they heard those numbers. And these are Rotarians from Corpus Christi, Victoria, and Brownsville to Laredo, all of the Rio Grande Valley. They were shocked.   “And I said, you know, don't believe the narrative. These are actual people. I can show you the numbers. That $8 million would go away.”   Longoria made his comments in a webinar hosted by Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force. The webinar comprised officials from numerous nonprofits who stand to lose funding under the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill.” Longoria said that while this bill includes cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, his agency had to remain focused on President Trump’s “skinny” budget.   “What our program is really concerned about is the proposed zeroing out of the Community Services Block Grant, the zeroing out of LIHEAP, which is our utility assistance program, and the zeroing out of our AmeriCorps program.”   Longoria said the President's “skinny” budget is different from the “Big, Beautiful Bill.”   “All of our programs are zeroed out. So, what does that mean, financially? That's $2 million in CSBG funding. So that is the disaster funding that I talked about in Commissioners Court today, which helped us respond to the flood, which helps us respond to fires, domestic violence on a daily basis, which helped us respond during COVID so quickly, to put people in shelter and buy food for people in shelter. That $2 million would be gone.”   Longoria said the CSBG funding has been in place since 1980, and its forerunner has been in place since 1968.   “So, that money has been in place for 60 years to help address poverty the way Hidalgo County sees fit.”   He said Cameron County would lose a little over a million dollars in CSBG funding, while Starr County would lose about $700,000.   Editor’s Note: Here is an audio recording of the remarks Longoria made during the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force webinar.     Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The director of research for the Bespoke Group says that as the world becomes less unipolar, the United States is going to have to work much more closely with Mexico. Jacob, L. Shapiro holds a master’s degree with distinction from Oxford University and a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University. He was guest speaker via a video link at an international relations forum hosted by the Mexican Consulate’s Office in Brownsville.  Held at the eBridge Center for Business & Commercialization, the forum was titled, “Brainstorming Dialogue: Navigating the New Era of US-Mexico Trade in the RGV Border.” “If we think about the US-Mexico relationship from just a very apolitical, cold-hearted geopolitical perspective, this is a relationship in which both sides need each other. The United States very much needs Mexico, and Mexico needs the United States,” Shapiro said. “And I think the thing that has changed, really, in the last five to ten years, in which will continue to change, I think, in Mexico's favor, is that… for much of the last century plus the United States has had most, if not all, of the leverage. And Mexico has not had the leverage.” Shapiro says he always references a quote attributed to former Mexico President Porfirio Diaz: "Poor Mexico - So Far from God, So Close to the United States." Shapiro predicts Mexico’s leverage with the United States will only increase. “As the world becomes less unipolar, where the US is not the dominant power in the world, where the US cannot simply say what it wants to happen and have those things happen, it's going to need a greater emphasis on local and regional supply chains, on local alliances and on local trade normalization.” Dr. Judith Arrieta Mungia Mexico’s consul in Brownsville, moderated the forum. At the conclusion of Shapiro’s remarks, Arrieta applauded enthusiastically.  Here is an audio recording of Shapiro’s remarks in full. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.

WESLACO, Texas - Unidos Contra la Diabetes’ collective impact director, Moises Arjona, Jr., has discussed the Rio Grande Valley’s health clinic concerns after recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Arjona gave an update during a recent Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force webinar on Tuesday.   Unidos Contra la Diabetes is a collective impact initiative working to prevent and reduce and type two diabetes in the Valley by 10 percent by 2030. The initiative works with clinic and nonprofit health care centers such as Family Clinic, El Milagro, Proyecto Juan Diego and other clinics in the area.  In an exclusive interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, Arjona said he is worried about a decline in the number of patients that come to health fairs hosted by Unidos Contra la Diabetes. The initiative’s health fairs include a series of community health clinic partners that also provide educational services. RGV Food Bank provides food and vegetables for the event. The health fairs typically receive an attendance of 300 people but according to Arjona Jr. their last health fair, March 26, “barely had 100 people.”   “Ever since the current administration started talking about ICE raids, our population is fearful and does not feel comfortable going out,”Arjona said. “We have to also understand that we have mixed-status families in our community, so maybe grandma, who might be undocumented, is the one that is the babysitter or drives the kids and drops them off at school.” Arjona said the initiative has been told by partners there has been an increase of patients wanting to do doctor’s sessions over the phone. Patients are also asking for more prolonged prescriptions for their refills, and an overall absence in patients at the clinics, Arjona said.   “It is going to be an impact for emergency rooms and urgent care, which then causes them to spend more money on health care, because it could have been prevented,” Arjona said. “It is going to be a ripple effect for us, and it is kind of scary.” Here is an audio recording of Arjona's remarks during the Prosperity Task Force's webinar. Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian website to read the full story. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.

MISSION, Texas - Mission Economic Development Corporation CEO Teclo Garcia gave the opening remarks at a Commercial & Investment Tour event before moderating a panel discussion. The event was held at the Center for Education & Economic Development and co-hosted by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership.  In his opening remarks, Garcia spoke about the growth of his city, both in population terms and industrial, commercial, and residential development. Here are his remarks. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Dr. Mostafa Malki is a professor at UT-Rio Grande Valley and executive director for business development at America’s Additive Foundry Center for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation and Cyber Systems. He is also the founder of Aaron Economic Consulting. Malki was a panelist for a discussion titled “Additive Manufacturing and Industrial Reshoring in the RGV.” The discussion, held at the eBridge Center for Business & Commercialization, part of RGV StartUp Week. During his remarks, Malki acknowledged he might offend some people when speaking about the importance of manufacturing over retail.   “Science technology, engineering and mathematics are what create wealth. All the others industries, although important, are not self-sustaining without a very strong industrial base,” Malki said. “So I understand, and maybe I'm going to offend some people but I'll go ahead and say it. One of the largest employers or industries in the Valley are the school districts. How we fund schools, education, is through property taxes. So somebody has to pay those taxes to be able to have quality education. That somebody has to be manufacturing.” Malki elaborated on his thought: “It has to be industries, because they are the one generating value. I don't want to give a lecture on economics, but I'll give you a very short explanation. When you manufacture something, most of the stuff that you manufacture is not going to be sold and consumed locally, it will be exported. So you export the value that you have produced and bring back cash that allows activity in that economy. It allows for a thriving entertainment industry, real estate, schools and so on.” Malki then contrasted retail with manufacturing. “I don't want to pick on retail,” he said, explaining that much of the profit created from retail activity leaves the region. “Only manufacturing does that because it brings money in and takes products out. Other areas (such as retail), they take money out, and that's what you're trying to avoid. So you're bleeding the region in that sense.” Malki said, economic development officials “cannot just say no, we're not going to do retail, because we still need retail.” But, he said, “we should not really focus on retail.” Malki continued: “We need to focus on manufacturing and industry, whether it's advanced or traditional manufacturing, because that's what creates wealth in the community. You look at Chicago, you look at L.A., there are very strong manufacturing bases there and that's the reason why they are considered successful, big, thriving communities. It’s because there is wealth being generated there.” In other parts of his remarks, Malki spoke about additive manufacturing and how the Valley could learn a lot from studying the success of Sweden.  Editor’s Note: Here is an audio recording of everything Dr. Malki said on the Additive Manufacturing and Industrial Reshoring in the RGV panel. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.