The 21st Century Border Initiative is proud to announce our summer blogger Tania Lara. We couldn’t possibly do her byline justice so we are going to let her tell you about herself. All we can say is she is a great writer, and will be covering Congress, the Mexico elections  and border immigration issues read below for her take.

My name is Tania Lara and I am working this summer at NDN’s 21st Border Initiative. During my time here, I will write for the 21border.com blog about the strong economic ties between Mexico and the U.S. through border and immigration issues.

I am thrilled that my time in D.C. coincides with Mexican presidential elections as well as American political campaigns. So from now on, I will post daily stories about Mexican politics in the context of the bilateral relationship with the U.S.  My stories will include a background of the three main political parties, profile on the presidential candidates, and current political developments from South of the border.

I have a vast experience working as a journalist in both countries reporting in-depth about the economic contributions and realities of Mexican immigrants. My stories about complex cross border matters have been published in Spanish-language media outlets including CNN México, Expansión, and ¡Ahora Sí!, as well as the English-language newspaper The Austin American-Statesman.

 I started my journalistic career 12 years ago as a volunteer for El Universal’s coverage of the 2000 Presidential election, the first time that an opposition candidate ended with 71 uninterrupted years of single-party ruling. Currently, I am a graduate student of Mexico-U.S. foreign policy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. Proudly a “chilanga”, a.k.a. a native of Mexico City, I moved to Texas in 2007 and my current focus is to develop analysis about immigration policy and the bilateral relation between Mexico and the U.S.

Follow me on twitter @politex.