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 News from Around the Americas | January 2007 
Texas Lawmakers Seek Federal Aid to Assist Mexican Drug War
 Associated Press
| | This is the grave of Esequiel Hernandez, another innocent victim of the drug war. |
A group of Texas Democrats has proposed legislation that would provide $850 million in federal aid to Mexico to combat drug cartels and border violence.
The bill would give $170 million annually to Mexico over a five-year period for costs such as training Mexican police and improving coordination with American law enforcement.
"Mexico must be a partner in efforts to safeguard the border region," said Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, a co-sponsor of the bill filed Wednesday. "This bill will help them further their law enforcement efforts."
Reyes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the money would help protect border cities from drug cartels and their violent turf battles along the border.
A month ago, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus asked Mexican President Felipe Calderon to boost his country's efforts to fight drug trafficking and violence along the 2,000-mile border.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said the United States and Mexico both need to step up security efforts to protect border communities.
"We will work to ensure our neighbor and partner to the south has the assistance it needs to fulfill its responsibilities," said Cuellar, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Other co-sponsors of the bill included Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, and Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Mercedes.
The proposed money would also go to upgrading Mexico's technology to fight the drug war and training judicial officials who prosecute drug traffickers and organized crime suspects.
Cuellar said the bill would help adjust an imbalance in U.S. aid to Latin American countries for fighting drug trafficking and cultivation. The United States provided $69 million in aid to Mexico for that purpose in fiscal year 2006. Columbia received $561 million and Peru $146 million during the same period, according to the U.S. State Department.
Texas Leaders Take Border Fence Opposition to D.C.
Kaitlin Bell & Michael Barnett - The Monitor
Texas border mayors have been making noise for months now about the economic effect an immigration overhaul could have on their cities.
On Wednesday, they got an important audience.
A 10-person group, including local bank executives and the mayors of McAllen, Hidalgo, Brownsville and Rio Grande City, met with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff Wednesday afternoon in Washington, D.C.
The mayors of Mission, Pharr and Del Rio could not attend the meeting because inclement weather delayed their flights, said a spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez and many of his local counterparts have opposed several of the measures being bandied about as Congress seeks to rework the nation’s immigration laws. In particular, they view the approved 700-mile border fence as being a woefully inappropriate and counter-productive initiative.
"We shared with them that border security is important to us," said Hidalgo Mayor John David Franz in a phone interview Wednesday night. "But at the same time, we wanted to make clear our opposition to any sort of border wall. That would send a very negative message."
In August, on the eve of President Bush’s visit to the Rio Grande Valley, the mayors argued for legalizing undocumented immigrants who have not committed crimes and called on the government to issue more work visas.
"You have to give them some incentives to get out of the shadows," Franz said.
The mayors also said Valley ports of entry needed more resources if they were to adequately screen people coming to the United States.
During their meeting with Chertoff, Cortez and other South Texas leaders made a similar argument to an audience that also included the state’s two senators, Hutchison and John Cornyn.
Chertoff was "quite receptive" to the mayors’ concerns and told them that a border fence won’t be constructed in the immediate future, Franz said.
Although Bush approved the border fence in October, Congress has yet to appropriate money for its construction, leading many in Washington to question whether it will ever be built.
But even if the United States walled off the entire country, it would still attract undocumented immigrants because of the availability of jobs here, Franz said.
Cortez could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
With immigration becoming an increasingly bitter and divisive issue, Congress has been unable to pass wide-sweeping reforms.
Hutchison has supported strategic border fencing in the past but also has argued for the need to balance secure borders with the economic realities of immigrant labor. She authored an amendment to the Senate immigration bill passed last spring that provided temporary work visas that would not put workers on a path toward citizenship.
Cornyn also has expressed support for temporary worker visas but has stressed the need for cracking down on employers of illegal immigrants. He co-authored a separate immigration bill in 2005 that emphasized bolstering resources for finding and detaining illegal immigrants.
The House and Senate were unable to fully reconcile their separate versions of the 2005-06 immigration bill, so Bush never signed it into law. Instead, the president approved several measures on which the House and Senate agreed, including the border fence.
In a statement released after Wednesday’s meeting, Cornyn called border security a federal responsibility that "obviously has a local impact."
"So it is only right that local officials have their voices heard," he said, "particularly on the issue of a border fence."
Kaitlin Bell covers Mission, western Hidalgo County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4446. Michael Barnett covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4447. |
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