Free Republic

PUERTO PENASCO, Mexico — Mexican and U.S. governors called for help from Washington Friday in alleviating massive traffic jams at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying the U.S. security concerns shouldn't mean long 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 later in the day. "We have the biggest parking lots in the world, at all times of day, and moreover, it is creating a pollution problem," said Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy. "It's...

PUERTO PENASCO, Mexico — Mexican President Felipe Calderon told U.S. governors Thursday that immigration is an inevitable, natural phenomenon and he urged the U.S. Congress to approve reforms that would allow more Mexicans to work legally north of the border. Calderon demanded that the United States respect "the right to work wherever one can make the greatest contribution." "Immigration is a natural phenomenon that is economically and socially inevitable," he told the meeting in this Baja California seaside resort town. In a rare acknowledgment of the costs of migration for Mexico, Calderon said his country "doesn't not celebrate migration ......

A meeting that begins today of governors from both sides of the international border may provide some new methods of fighting the methamphetamine problem. Gov. Janet Napolitano said some new laws in Mexico have altered the drug trade. Now, she said, the governors have to figure out how to deal with that. What has led to the change, Napolitano said, is a decision by Mexico to limit the amount of pseudoephedrine that can be imported into that country. That decongestant is the primary "precursor chemical'' in the making of methamphetamine. The White House had estimated more than 200 tons of...