Corruption seen as major hurdle to improving U.S.-Mexico bor
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Corruption seen as major hurdle to improving U.S.-Mexico border cooperation
The Business Journal of Phoenix - 2:13 PM MST Fridayby Mike SunnucksThe Business Journal
A hallmark of a number of immigration reform plans is to get more cooperation from Mexico in terms of border security and helping the U.S. to both control the flow of migrant workers and fight drug cartels and other smugglers.
Plans from both political parties call for more cooperation and coordination with Mexico on border and immigration matters.
The problem is any kind of cooperation and sharing of intelligence and communication systems with Mexico could run to the rampant corruption on the other side of the border.
Mexican government, police and military units struggle with corruption and direct links to drug cartels and immigrant smugglers. That creates problems when U.S. or border state officials looking to coordinate efforts. Information and intelligence sharing can often end up in the hands of organized criminal syndicates and cartels.
Gov. Janet Napolitano has tried to work with her counterparts in the Mexican state of Sonora to share intelligence and coordinate communications along the border.
Napolitano said corruption is still a problem in Mexico, but the concerns are not as great in Sonora as in other states and she credits Mexican President Vicente Fox for making some progress on that front. Arizona is a top entry point into the U.S. for illegal immigrants and the criminal syndicates that smuggle them in, as well as for drug cartels and crystal meth producers from Mexico.
State Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said the Mexican government is part of the problem of illegal immigration and porous border security and criticized the governor's approach.
"Mexico is a corrupt government," said Pearce, a conservative Republican. "The Mexican Government has no respect for our laws or their laws and this governor knows that and yet continues to talk to them and put a spin on it as if something will get done."
Mexican towns and cities along the U.S. border are often rife with corruption and dominated by organized crime and violent drug cartels.
Napolitano blames the Bush administration and federal government for not adequately addressing or dedicating enough resources to border security, as well as the costs of illegal immigration.
Rusty Childress, a Valley car dealer and a leading immigration hawk in the state, said Mexico sees a benefit in having its poor migrate to the U.S and then send money back to their families.
"Mexico is the problem, they are not the solution. They export their indigent (migrants) to 'el norte' in order to gain billions of remittance dollars each year. Their corruption is fueled by greed. They are one of the leading countries in the world in terms of billionaires, but they are a victim of their own poor judgment and their countrymen suffer because of it," said Childress.
Mexico is an oil-producing country and its gross domestic product ranks in the top 15 worldwide, ahead of Taiwan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Australia and Sweden.
Napolitano backs a guest worker plan, tougher immigration law enforcement against employers who hire illegals, and increased border security.
However, the Democratic governor does not favor a border security wall or using the state National Guard to directly patrol the border.
