Belen Borrego Robles (born 1936) is a former national president of the

League of United Latin American Citizens The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the largest and oldest Hispanic and Latin-American civil rights organization in the United States. It was established on February 17, 1929, in Corpus Christi, Texas, largely by Hispanic and ...

(LULAC) and served as the group's first national woman president. She has many years experience working for the

United States Government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

in positions relating to

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

and

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

Biography

Belen Borrego Robles was born in 1936 in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

, where she also grew up. She was the fifth of 10 children born to Dolores Ortega Borrego and Joaquin Borrego. She is a graduate of Bowie High School, class of 1954. Robles married Ramiro Robles at age seventeen. When Robles was job searching in 1956, she was told that "Mexicans are only hired as elevator girls and cooks." She went on to work at the

Immigration and Naturalization Service The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was a United States federal government agency under the United States Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and under the United States Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003. Refe ...

(INS) starting in 1957. In 1971, she went to work for the

United States Customs Service The United States Customs Service was a federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted criminal in ...

. Robles joined the

(LULAC) in 1957. Robles became deputy district director of the El Paso area LULAC council in 1964. Previously, she had been president of the Ladies LULAC Council 9. In 1994, she ran for national president of LULAC at the national convention held in El Paso. Robles went on to become the first woman to serve as national president of the organization. In 2001, she ran for mayor of El Paso. Belen has served on the board of trustees for the

El Paso Community College El Paso Community College (EPCC) is a community college in El Paso, Texas. EPCC operates five campuses in the El Paso area, as well as courses offered at nearby Fort Bliss. As defined by the Texas Legislature, the official service area of EPCC ...

and the Texas Association of Community College Trustees.

References

External links

Belen Robles on C-SpanLetter from Belen Robles to John J. Herrera, 1965
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robles, Belen 1936 births People from El Paso, Texas League of United Latin American Citizens activists Living people