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 News from Around the Americas | September 2007 
Anger Over Border Backups Erupts at U.S.-Mexico Conference
 Associated Press
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 |  | The relationship has become stronger and stronger each year. We have become more than just good neighbors. We have become great friends.
- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger |  | |
Puerto Penasco, Mexico — Massive traffic jams at the U.S.-Mexico border have Mexican governors in the region demanding that Washington address U.S. security concerns without creating border bottlenecks.
The demands arose at the annual U.S.-Mexico border governors conference at this resort on the Gulf of California, where U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was expected to discuss increased border fencing and stepped up security today.
"We have the biggest parking lots in the world," said Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy, referring to hours-long waits to cross the border. "We have to look at this as a crisis. Unfortunately, we are not getting any response from the U.S. government."
Eduardo Bours, governor of the border state of Sonora, called for more border crossings because those that exist between Arizona and Sonora are saturated.
"There are lines of three, four and five hours, and so we have to invest much more in border crossings," he said.
Chertoff is also expected to face questions over proposed routes for border fencing that environmentalists, farmers and others say will damage the region's environmental and economic landscape.
On Monday, the U.S. government announced proposed routes and designs for some of the 370 miles of fencing and 200 miles of vehicle barriers to be put in place by the end of 2008.
"This is the great tragedy," said Carlos de la Parra, a Mexican participant in the conference's environmental panel, as he pointed to a map of proposed border fences cutting through nature reserves. A researcher at Mexico's Colegio de la Frontera Norte, he listed wildlife species that routinely cross the border and said, "These animals don't cross the border to shop. They do it out of necessity."
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has opposed the border fencing, praised Mexico's cooperation with its northern neighbor.
"The relationship has become stronger and stronger each year," he said. "We have become more than just good neighbors. We have become great friends."
Referring to many visits to Mexico since his first 40 years ago, Schwarzenegger lifted a line from his movie "Terminator," quipping, "I always look forward to saying, 'I'll be back."
While all the border's Mexican governors were scheduled to attend, half of the U.S. contingent of governors — New Mexico's Bill Richardson and Texas' Rick Perry — were not coming.
Richardson, who is making a presidential bid, did not give a reason for his absence; Perry's office cited a scheduling conflict. |
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