Thread: Bi-National Agreement Enhances Border

http://www.govtech.net/magazine/channel ... php/102431

Bi-National Agreement Enhances Border Security, Cooperation
By News Release
Nov 17, 2006
A new, bi-national agreement signed Thursday will improve law enforcement communication across the border and aid in information sharing to combat border crime. Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and Sonora Governor Eduardo Bours Castelo signed the agreement in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico, during the fall plenary session of the Arizona-Mexico Commission.

The original agreement between the states of Arizona and Sonora was signed in June 2005; this new agreement expands and enhances that ongoing effort. It further defines systems for information sharing between the two states' law enforcement agencies. It also creates a Cross-Border Communications Committee whose members will implement border-wide protocols for using communications systems. Membership will consist of the directors of Public Safety in each state, as well as law enforcement agency chiefs or designees from Nogales, Douglas and San Luis, Arizona; and from Nogales, Agua Prieta and San Luis, Sonora.

"Sonora faces many of the same immigration-related criminal issues that Arizona must deal with," said Napolitano. "In June 2005, we launched an unprecedented level of law enforcement cooperation between the two states. Our efforts are paying off, and the impact is beginning to be felt."

In the last year, the two states' Departments of Public Safety began sharing information on suspected human traffickers, drug dealers and other offenders who engage in vehicle theft and the manufacture and sale of fraudulent government documents. Since then, in Arizona:
Southern Arizona Vehicle Theft Enforcement Detail has conducted 64 details, recovered more than 230 stolen vehicles; made 76 felony arrests and turned over nearly 300 undocumented immigrants to federal authorities in the United States. Vehicles are often stolen so that criminal organizations can use them to transport individuals or contraband, then abandoned a short time later.
Arizona DPS has installed License Plate Reader devices, enabling law enforcement to capture more than 200,000 plates and recover more than $3 million in stolen vehicles.
Financial Crimes Task Force, led by Arizona DPS, has seized nearly $5 million in international money transfers made by criminal organizations. The technique, known as "damming warrants," is used to stop the flow of funds used to finance human and drug trafficking organizations. Additionally, the Task Force has made dozens of arrests.
Arizona Fraudulent ID Task Force has cross-trained Sonora law enforcement to recognize fake identification cards and other documents. The Task Force continues to conduct numerous undercover operations, and has confiscated hundreds of fraudulent social security cards, driver's licenses, permanent resident cards, Mexican ID cards and other documents.

Interesting. I thought that pursuant Art. 1, Sec. 10 states were prevented from entering into treaties with foreign nations. Do they circumvent this by calling it an agreement rather than a treaty?

It seems to me that the fact of this agreement between a state of the US and a Mexican state shoots the wheels off the idea that states would not be able to enforce laws based upon immigration status. After all, the basis for that claim is that states would be intruding into areas reserved to the federal government. If a state can enter into agreements that should be the sole bailiwick of the federal government, then why couldn't it also enter into the area of border enforcement?