AUSTIN — Three prominent Democrats have joined the board of the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation, giving the group recently formed by a former Dallas Republican lawmaker a bipartisan boost.

On Thursday, the foundation announced new board members Leticia Van de Putte, a former San Antonio state senator and the 2014 Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor; Sarah Saldaña, who led U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement during the Obama administration and served as U.S. attorney in North Texas; and Regina Montoya, a long-time Democratic political operative who served in the Clinton White House and ran for Dallas mayor in 2019.

Jason Villalba, the foundation’s founder and chairman, said in a statement he was honored to have the “experience, wisdom, perspective and insight” of Van de Putte, Saldaña and Montoya.

“The Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation was formed to be the preeminent Hispanic research organization in Texas," he said. "This would only be possible if we were able to include the vision and focus of thoughtful leadership from both sides of the political aisle. These great public servants will help ensure that all voices are represented as we embark on our mission.”

Prior to Thursday’s announcement, the group’s board was comprised entirely of Republicans, which led to criticism from Latino advocates who said the foundation could not be nonpartisan without a more balanced board. The board will now have seven Republicans and three Democrats, but Villalba said he’s still looking for more board members.

Van de Putte said she liked the idea of working across party lines to learn more about the needs of Latinos across Texas. Her business partner, former Secretary of State Hope Andrade, is a Republican who was already on the board.

“I’m a die-hard Democrat and my business partner is a die-hard Republican. And yet we know that for us to fix things as a state, the well-being of Latino families has got to be at the forefront,” Van de Putte said. “For people to make decisions so that people have the opportunity to succeed, it’s important to have that type of data to know how we’re thinking."

Montoya said the opportunity to do research and publish data on how Latinos lived in Texas appealed to her because she had struggled to get that kind of information while working on Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings’ task force on poverty.

“I couldn’t get it,” she said. “Latinos were lumped in with groups that had systematically not been involved with these initiatives.”

The chance to get that kind of data for others who are working on important issues led her to join the effort, she said.

“Even though I’m taking a risk because I’m a Democrat — I worked in the White House for a Democrat and ran for Congress as a Democrat — but I also knew that the impact on Latinos and where Latinos are is so important for the future,” she said. “We just need to all work together. Poverty doesn’t care whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat. COVID doesn’t care whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat."

Saldaña said the foundation could help give the public a better understanding of Latinos in Texas. Often, she said, political campaigns miss the nuances that Texas Latinos have depending on their age, where they live, immigration status and whether or not they speak English.

Only more research with a keen focus on Texas Latinos can remedy that, she said.

“There is nothing like information,” she said. “We need to know as much as we can about where Texas is heading and where the needs of Hispanics are.”

“I’m a Democrat, Jason is a Republican and there are several Republicans on the board already,” she said. “But that is appealing to me because even though we may disagree on the substance of issues we all agree on the need for data.”