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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2007 
US, Mexican States Seek Common Border Solutions
 Chris Hawley & Sergio Solache - Arizona Republic
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 |  | The governors joke and pat each other on the back, but it doesn't represent anything important for the populations of Mexico and the United States.
- Leopoldo Santos |  | |
Mexico City - In the wake of yet another failed attempt at U.S. immigration reform, governors from along the border meet this week as pressure builds for states to take the lead on immigration and security issues.
Mexican President Felipe Calderón, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Carlos Slim, the world's richest man, are all expected to attend the two-day meeting in the Sonoran beach resort of Puerto Peñasco, or Rocky Point. It's a sign, say state officials, that the ball is in their court.
"This shows the states taking the initiative, trying to discuss their common interests and coming to some solutions," said Mario Welfo, a spokesman for Sonora Gov. Eduardo Bours Castelo.
All six Mexican border governors are expected to attend the meeting, the 25th of its kind, on Thursday and Friday, Welfo said. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and her California counterpart, Arnold Schwarzenegger, will represent the U.S. side.
Past meetings have been criticized as gabfests, with few real results.
"They have very little effect on reality," said Leopoldo Santos, an international-relations professor at the College of Sonora. "The governors joke and pat each other on the back, but it doesn't represent anything important for the populations of Mexico and the United States."
Still, much has happened along the border since the 2006 meeting in Austin, Texas. In December, Calderón began dispatching army troops to quell drug violence in border cities. Smugglers responded by killing Mexican state and local police.
U.S. states, meanwhile, are mulling their next steps after Congress abandoned an effort to change federal immigration rules in June. U.S. border states rely heavily on migrant labor but are concerned about the burden that illegal immigrants place on schools and hospitals.
Arizona has since passed a law punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants. It takes effect Jan. 1. State prosecutors have also tried to track wire transfers believed to be bound for immigrant smugglers, though the practice was curbed by an Arizona Court of Appeals ruling this month.
"When your state is the Number 1 state where immigration is an issue, you have to act," said Marco López, Napolitano's senior adviser on international issues.
Chertoff's trip is partly aimed at keeping tabs on what measures states are considering, said Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke.
"There are clearly states that are taking measures because of the failure of the U.S. Congress to enact immigration reform," Knocke said.
Napolitano plans to push for a resolution urging the U.S. government to better track sales of pseudoephedrine, a cold remedy that is a key ingredient in methamphetamine, López said. As Mexico cracks down on pseudoephedrine imports, smugglers are turning to U.S. suppliers to feed their clandestine drug labs, he said.
Arizona and other states have restricted over-the-counter sales of pseudoephedrine pills, but federal controls on the importing of bulk pseudoephedrine remain weak, López said.
The governors also hope to hear more from Chertoff and Calderón about a proposed multibillion-dollar aid package being negotiated between Mexico and the United States.
The package is aimed at fighting drug smugglers. López said the governors want some say in how the money is spent - modernizing checkpoints in Mexico, for example, to speed up drug searches and improve the flow of trucks to the U.S. border.
Mexican states, meanwhile, said they are seeking allies as they press the U.S. to shorten the time it takes to pass through a crossing.
"It really is a problem, the time it takes to cross into the United States," said Alejandro Contreras, a spokesman for Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy Walter.
Chertoff plans to brief governors on the construction of border fences, one of the hottest topics along the frontier. His department released the first detailed maps of the fence project on Tuesday.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry blasted plans for a barrier during a visit to Mexico last month, and Calderón got a standing ovation when he criticized the projects in his State of the Union address on Sept. 2.
Knocke said such criticism from politicians has drowned out supporters of the fence.
"While you see a lot in the papers about local officials suggesting that they are not interested in having a fence in their community, we hear a lot from landowners who want the fence," he said.
The governors also are expected to discuss environmental problems. Schwarzenegger, who gave a speech about global warming to the United Nations on Monday, wants border states to strike agreements to reduce "greenhouse" gases, said a spokesman, Aaron McLear.
The governor of Tamaulipas, Eugenio Hernández Flores, meanwhile, is concerned about water use along the Rio Grande, said spokesman Homero Treviño. |
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