Free Republic

WASHINGTON - U.S. border cities are not experiencing spillover violence from Mexico, the new head of Customs and Border Protection said Wednesday. Violence in U.S. cities near Mexico cannot be compared with the level of lawlessness across the border, Commissioner Alan Bersin told reporters. Bersin also said that U.S. security measures on borders with Mexico and Canada should be carried out in a way that improves the efficiency of trade so that America can remain competitive globally.

The "American Heritage Invention and Technology" magazine has an article on interstate highway bridge construction. The article was prompted by the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis a few years ago. The legal weight limit for semi-trucks was quoted as 80,000 pounds. This weight limit is what interstate highway construction in America is designed to carry. The article also mentioned that Nevada has found one in 14 trucks exceed the 80,000-pound legal limit. It was not clear from the article if the legal limit of 80,000 pounds is a federal limit and applies anywhere in the United States or...

The only byproduct of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) initiative is the U.S.'s role in providing security for the 4,000 miles planned toll road network of superhighway corridors creating a trans-continental land bridge to bring China, Mexico and Canada prosperity at our expense. Citizen outrage in Texas appears to have prompted TxDOT to issue its recent "No Build Alternative" to federal authorities. But Researcher Stephen Lendman who wrote a very definitive canon describing these proposed NAFTA river of trade routes through the heart of the U.S. remains skeptical. "It's only temporary," he said in a recent email. Poignant testimony...

El Universo (Guayaquil,Ecuador) 2/15/10 Open Western Hemisphere borders proposed The Ecuadorian government will ask the Organization of American States (OAS) to promote the free movement of people within the continent in order to curb the deportation of immigrants who are in an “irregular condition” [Read: illegal]. Hernan Holguin, sub-secretary of the Ecuadorian national department that oversees migrant issues, indicated that the matter will be presented before the OAS as “a matter of human rights” and to stop the deportation of “irregular immigrants.” Holguin expressed the opinion that humanity is advancing toward a “universal citizenship” and that world globalization is not...

(NaturalNews) As the anticipated July release date for Baxter's A/H1N1 flu pandemic vaccine approaches, an Austrian investigative journalist is warning the world that the greatest crime in the history of humanity is underway. Jane Burgermeister has recently filed criminal charges with the FBI against the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations (UN), and several of the highest ranking government and corporate officials concerning bioterrorism and attempts to commit mass murder. She has also prepared an injunction against forced vaccination which is being filed in America. These actions follow her charges filed in April against Baxter AG and Avir Green...

Laredo Community College got a visit from a Mexican congressman today who talked about Mexico’s stance on the United States immigration reform. Congressman Jose Medina says the immigration crisis is a human problem that begs a human solution and that the U.S., Mexico and other nations should work together to become one America on one continent. Medina also stated his own views on immigration reform. "I think legalization is the solution for people asking for permission to work legally in this country." Medina was elected as a member in Mexico’s lower house of congress in 2000.

DALLAS — Canada’s trade minister said Monday that some progress is being made on a nagging trade issue with the United States, while U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said a tangled dispute with Mexico over cross-border trucking and California Christmas trees might resolve itself next year. Welcoming Cabinet-level Mexican and Canadian trade officials to the city where he served as mayor, Kirk said language that removed funding for the Mexican truck program has been restored in next year’s budget bill. "We won’t be handcuffed by prohibitory language," he said. When the border was closed to 500 U.S.-certified trucks in a...

MEXICO CITY — The United States should reinstate a Clinton-era ban on assault weapons to prevent such guns from reaching Mexican drug cartels, former officials from both countries said in a report released Tuesday. The group, which includes two former U.S. ambassadors to Mexico, also said the U.S. should do more to stop the smuggling of firearms and ammunition into Mexico by stepping up investigations of gun dealers and more strictly regulating gun shows. The Binational Task Force on the United States-Mexico Border listed the assault weapons ban as a step the U.S. should take immediately to improve security in...

After nearly six years in the making, Matamoros’ first wastewater treatment plant was inaugurated Tuesday. The treatment facility, which will clean contaminated water and pump it into the Rio Grande, is the result of a $33 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) donated through the North American Development Bank (NADB), a $10 million loan from the NADB, and $33 million more in funding from the government of Mexico. Though the $76 million facility has been in operation for nearly a year, the inauguration ceremony had been put off several times. The lineup of speakers at the ceremony...

President Obama went to Guadalajara, Mexico, in August as part of his promise to "rejoin the world community" and become a "citizen of the world." He participated in a conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. These cozy meetings of the so-called three amigos used to be labeled the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The three North American heads of state met in Waco in 2005, in Cancun in 2006, in Quebec in 2007 and in New Orleans in 2008. After conservatives exposed the mischievous goals, the amigos accepted the Hudson Institute's helpful suggestion to change...

The leaders of the NAFTA nations -- President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Felipe Calderon -- will hardly be meeting as "Three Amigos" at their summit in Guadalajara tomorrow and Monday. Canada and Mexico have been particularly rattled not merely by the U. S. financial crisis but by the policies hatched to deal with it. Their economies were already being damaged by the United States' obsessive, if understandable, concerns with border security. Now even further damage is threatened by perverse climate-change and energy policies. The range of NAFTA concerns was expressed in a statement yesterday from the...

President Obama, attending a North American summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, vowed Monday to pursue comprehensive U.S. immigration reform later this year with a view to enacting legislation in 2010 that would provide a "pathway to citizenship" for millions of illegal immigrants in the United States. In a joint news conference in Guadalajara with Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Obama also pledged continued support for Mexico's war on powerful drug cartels, saying he was confident the battle could be waged "in a way consistent with human rights." In their two-day summit, the...

As a result of NAFTA, North America is already a well-integrated energy market with Canada and Mexico among the U.S.’s top energy trading partners.  Through the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), the North American Energy Working Group has further integrated a continental energy strategy.  Other initiatives are also pushing towards a single North American energy policy. The Western Governors’ Association annual conference was held in Park City, Utah on June 14-16, 2009. The meetings were attended by three Canadian western premiers.  Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall spearheaded plans to develop a cross-border Western Energy Corridor.  Both...

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – President Barack Obama pressed for a new tone in the United States' relationship with Mexico but found no immediate progress Sunday on the divisions between him and Mexican President Felipe Calderon over the pace of U.S. drug-fighting aid and a ban on Mexican trucks north of the border. Obama kicked off his second trip to Mexico as president with a friendly 45-minute meeting with Calderon that touched on the vast trade relationship between their two countries, their cooperation on swine flu and the violent Mexican gangs dominating the drug trade on both sides of the border. Their...

Ahead of President Obama’s arrival in Mexico, immigration was prompting significant behind-the-scenes debate. But it was Mexicans entering Canada, not the United States, that was the contentious issue. Too many Mexicans, the Canadian government complained, were fraudulently claiming political asylum in Canada, overwhelming the system. So Canada announced last month that it would begin requiring Mexican nationals to secure visas before entering the country, a decision that sparked outrage in Mexico. The Mexicans struck back with an announcement that Canadian diplomats and government officials would now require visas to enter Mexico. Although some angry Mexican lawmakers urged President Felipe Calderon...

GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled a new program to help fight crime in the Americas as he arrived in Mexico on Sunday for a summit with U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Through the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program, Canada will invest as much as $15-million a year in projects across the Americas that combat the illicit drug trade, corruption, human-trafficking and other regional problems. Roughly half a million dollars of the program's annual total will go to Mexico to assist in its drug war. Drug-related violence has spiked in the country as rival cartels...

With President Obama expected tomorrow for the North American Leaders' Summit in Guadalajara, Mexico, a coalition of American legislators and activists took a message to the Mexican media, denouncing economic partnerships that would undermine national sovereignty and blasting Obama's failure to keep his promises on transparency and the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Howard Phillips, chairman of The Conservative Caucus and head of the Coalition to Block the North American Union, spoke to Mexican print, television and radio media about the summit, which was known in previous years as the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership, or...

— President Barack Obama meets this weekend with leaders of Mexico and Canada at a time when drug-related violence, swine flu and the economic crisis are slipping across North America's borders like never before. Obama, along with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, are expected to work on trade and immigration, drug trafficking and security, and clean energy during their first summit Sunday and Monday in ....Guadalajara. "The bottom line is that what affects our bordering neighbors has the potential to affect us all, so we want to be certain that we have the tightest and...

MEXICO CITY – President Barack Obama meets this weekend with leaders of Mexico and Canada at a time when drug-related violence, swine flu and the economic crisis are slipping across North America's borders like never before. Obama, along with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, are expected to work on trade and immigration, drug trafficking and security, and clean energy .. ... The summit — a part of the three nations' Security and Prosperity Partnership — was established five years ago by leaders who are no longer in office, .. The agenda is largely set by...

A senior Mexican official spoke with reporters today, in advance of the North American Leaders summit this weekend. The official, speaking on background, explain that this summit is basically laying the ground work for future endeavors, and advised not expect to see any obvious deliverables – that developing the relationship is essentially the goal. “No two countries are more important to each other’s security, prosperity, and well being than these two countries – simply by virtue of having a 2,000 mile border,” the official said. President Obama will meet with President Filipe Calderon and Prime Minister Harper – in bi-lats...