 |
|
|
 News from Around the Americas | August 2006 
Border Governors Discuss Immigration
 Liz Austin Peterson - Associated Press
| | Marilyn White, wearing a Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger mask, right, and Martha Odom, wearing a Gov. Rick Perry mask, take part in a mock arrest during a protest of the annual Border Governors Conference in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2006. CodePink, a womens' grassroots peace and social justice movement, staged the event to protest current border state policies toward immigration rights. (AP/Jack Plunkett) |
U.S. and Mexican border-state governors on Thursday began a two-day conference seeking to find common ground on issues of immigration and border security.
The governors, meeting at the Texas Capitol, were expected to discuss a proposed joint declaration sponsored by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that would establish a cross-border law enforcement task force that would target human traffickers, drug smugglers and other criminals.
The declaration also would call on both federal governments to criminalize border tunnels, with significant penalties for people who break tunneling laws.
Schwarzenegger, Richardson, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and the governors of the Mexican border states of Sonora, Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas were expected to participate in the mostly closed-door sessions.
The meetings prompted several small, mostly peaceful protests throughout the city, including one outside the conference host hotel that drew about three dozen people who want immigrant soldiers deployed in the Middle East to be granted citizenship.
On Wednesday, Perry said he most wanted to talk about border security and getting the federal government to pay more of the tab. He has said he will ask the Legislature next year to allocate $100 million to continue Operation Linebacker, a border security program the state launched in the past year.
Illegal immigration has been a major campaign issue this year, but Congress has been unable to forge a compromise between a Senate bill that would give millions of illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship and a House version that would make it a felony to be in the U.S. illegally.
Associated Press Writer April Castro contributed to this report. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us