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Border Communities Try To Shift Immigration Reform Debate

This afternoon in Nogales, Ariz., a partisan group of border community residents, activists, and politicians will stage their own version of a protest that's been steadily moving along the border.

Led by Congressman Raúl Grijalva, this group will include residents, local businesses, law enforcement and the American Civil Liberties Union. They intend to demonstrate their support for other aspects of border security and legislation that have gone ignored, like increasing port security and cross-border trade as well as demanding attention be paid to civil rights abuses by federal border agents.

These push-backs have been heavily localized in recent weeks along the border even as the immigration reform bill threatens to stall out before the House of Representatives. 

In San Diego, groups recently called for more Customs and Border Protection at the ports to help ease traffic delays. In El Paso, groups want to discuss the economic benefits of legal immigration. 

Today's ad hoc meeting in Nogales will bring much the same but it also comes at a time when comprehensive immigration reform talks have been pushed back further and further in the Congressional calendar.

Some Republicans actively working on reform proposals have even estimated there is less than a 5 percent chance of seeing immigration reform before the end of the year. 

Fronteras Desk senior editor Michel Marizco is an award-winning investigative reporter based in Flagstaff.