Posted on 08/24/2006 11:14:06 AM PDT by WestTexasWend
-Focus is on states' growing role in federal issues-
When U.S. and Mexico border governors meet at the Texas Capitol today for talks on border security and trade, protesters outside will demonstrate against proposals to build border fences and make felons of people in the country illegally.
The planned protests would seem misplaced, since those are federal issues, but the tempest that usually surrounds the nation's illegal immigration debate more and more is moving to the states.
With Congress deadlocked on how to deal with an estimated 12 million immigrants living in the United States, Texas and other states are showing signs of frustration and seizing the initiative to deal with the human and financial costs of the problems associated with illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
"The states have really been the vanguard about trying to do something about this," said Steven Camarota with the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington research group that advocates greater controls on illegal immigration.
Border security is expected to dominate talks today at the 24th Border Governors Conference, a two-day meeting of the 10 U.S.-Mexico border governors.
"I think that is at the top of everyone's list of issues that are important for us to be addressing as governors," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday.
"Securing the border is not just a U.S. concern. It's citizens on both sides of the border who have been negatively impacted."
Governors and their staffs will conduct most of their business over the next two days in meetings closed to the public and news media.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will deliver remarks at 4 p.m. today in the Senate chambers.
The border governors meetings began in 1980 and have traditionally focused on binational interests like trade, agriculture, water, the environment, education and health, science and technology.
In Austin, the governors will seek to maneuver a delicate balance, pledging cooperation on efforts to control the borders while fostering economic development and recognizing the forces of migration. Mexico is Texas' largest trade partner, and the majority of illegal immigrants who come to the United States for jobs are from there.
An early draft of a joint declaration to be issued this week commits to working to eradicate crime and improve the legal flow of people and goods. It expresses regret for the continued loss of life suffered among those crossing the border through the desert.
The standoff in Congress over immigration and border security reform centers on whether to allow a path to legalization for many of the illegal immigrants living in the United States.
On Wednesday, members of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus and the Texas Association of Business announced an agreement calling on Congress to pass laws that tighten border security but allow for more legal immigration. The groups said security efforts must target would-be terrorists and criminals, but not immigrants who come merely to look for jobs.
Perry said he had not heard the groups' platform but agreed in principle that it's important to increase the numbers of workers who can legally enter the country, adding: "But you must secure the border first."
Perry has steered millions in mostly federal money for officers, equipment and resources to deter escalating violence and increase security in troubled border areas. Announcing some of the initiatives in February, a stern-faced Perry stressed that guarding the border remains a federal responsibility but that Texas couldn't wait any longer for Washington to act.
The governor reiterated Wednesday that he will ask the Legislature next session for $100 million to sustain the security efforts.
Perry said the recent operations had slashed crime rates by 40 percent to 70 percent in some communities. He said he would share Texas' success with the governors, adding that the state could serve as a model "if Congress is interested in really getting the job done."
Last summer, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano declared an emergency in their border counties to free up money for law enforcement.
Local agencies in southern Arizona "had been begging for more money for overtime and police and for having to expand their duties because the federal government basically wasn't doing its job," Pati Urias, a spokeswoman for Napolitano, said this week.
While some applaud the states' efforts as well as a U.S. House bill that cracks down on illegal immigration, others are critical.
Another Perry initiative to place surveillance cameras along the border and post the images on the Web has been decried by civil liberties groups, for example. The Web site will soon be open to the public, a spokeswoman said.
Dennis Nixon, chairman of International Bancshares Corp. based in Laredo, said U.S. governors must look beyond an approach that values "shutting down the border" above all else.
"You're trying to foment a binational strategy that you want economic development, you want trade, you want sharing of resources; you recognize that the air doesn't stop at the border, that disease travels, that use of water resources are common," Nixon said.
Camarota with the Center for Immigration Studies noted that ports of entry are run by the federal government and said it is difficult to imagine how border governors can have much of an impact.
"In general, talking to the Mexican states is always fine and probably some productive things can come out of it," Camarota said. "But no matter what solution you advocate, nothing very meaningful is likely to come out of it."
But Urias said binational security efforts are working in Arizona and its southern neighbor, Sonora. She said an agreement in June 2005 by Napolitano and Sonora Gov. Eduardo Bours Castelo includes information-sharing, training and intelligence-gathering. She said it has helped curb the fraudulent ID trade, human trafficking and vehicle theft.
UNITED STATES
Arnold Schwarzenegger, California
Janet Napolitano, Arizona
Bill Richardson, New Mexico
Rick Perry, Texas
MEXICO
Eduardo Bours Castelo, Sonora
Eugenio Elorduy Walther, Baja
Jose Reyes Baeza Terrazas, Chihuahua
Humberto Moreira Valdes, Coahuila
Jose Natividad Gonzalez Paras, Nuevo Leon
Eugenio Hernandez Flores, Tamaulipas
Did the Mexican governors walk to the meeting?
ping
They swam. :)
"...with an estimated 12 million immigrants 20-30 million criminal illegal aliens..."
There; fixed it.
the Minutemen have done more to secure the border than these ten clowns combined!
"Ha! They are American issues, state issues, county, town and neighborhood issues. Deport illegals. Fine their employers. Cut off gov't assistance to them. Too much carrot and not enough stick!"
Bears repeating, over and over and over and over!
Border Guvs Ping!
They should meet in Laredo.
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