Thread: Border Governors Conference Starts

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Border Governors Conference Starts

Aug 24, 2006 07:28 PM PDT

Dozens of protesters were among those greeting the Border Governors Conference attendees outside the Capitol Thursday afternoon.

Inside it was all pomp and circumstance as nine of the 10 U.S. and Mexican border governors began their two-day conference in Austin.

They're here trying to find ways to build a better border between the two countries.

There are plenty of issues for the border governors to address: trade, transportation and economic development.

But at this year's conference, it's really just a one item agenda.

The conference is being attended by 10 governors from two countries with one border with one issue overshadowing virtually every other between international neighbors.

"Without a total commitment to our security, economic, educational and social programs rest on tenuous grounds at best," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said.

Leaders from both countries told the governors in the Capitol that the two nations are gaining ground on border security.

"Let me stress that Mexico in no way encourages illegal immigration," Juan Bosco Marti with the Mexican Foreign Ministry said.

"Our relations are closer and more cooperative than ever. Our law enforcement authorities are working together. We have a common purpose," U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said.

The common goal of a secure border is easy for the governors to agree on, but much harder to achieve.

"More bridges and fewer walls are needed," Marti said.

"It would be both naive and dangerous to believe that among the waves of economic migrants that came to this country there are not also those that come here simply to cause great harm," Perry said.

Perhaps the greatest challenge at the annual Border Governors Conference is doing anything at all. The feds must negotiate most border issues, like a guest worker program.

"One cannot underestimate this moment and how complex this issue is for our two nations," Marti said.

What's most likely to come out of this conference when it wraps up Friday is a joint declaration by the 10 governors.

It could include a call for establishing a cross-border law enforcement task force targeting criminals who smuggle drugs or humans.

It also encourages both federal governments to criminalize building border tunnels used to smuggle people and drugs.

Gov. Perry made a stir at the Border Governors Conference calling Felipe Calderon the president-elect of Mexico and saying he had spoke with him earlier.

The conservative candidate holds a narrow lead in Mexico's still-disputed presidential race. Official tallies of the July 2 elections show him ahead by less than 1 percent. His opponent, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has claimed fraud and rallied street protests in the capital.

The election is now in the hands of the Federal Electoral Tribunal, which has until Sept. 6 to declare a president-elect or annul the vote.

A Mexican reporter asked Perry whether his statement indicated he recognized Calderon as the winner.

Perry responded that people in the United States refer to the candidate with the most votes as the president-elect. He would not gives details of his talk with Calderon.

While the governors hold their meetings inside, outside there are dozens of protestors.

You can find protestors at different places all over the city Thursday. At the Driscoll Hotel, where some of the governors are meeting, you'll find CodePink and Veterans for Peace.

What's interesting is that these protestors are from all over the country and they all have a different story to tell as to why they're here.

We start with the nurses. The same people who take your blood at the hospital are chanting with signs outside of the Four Seasons Hotel where Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was holding a luncheon to raise money for his campaign.

Gwen Agbatekwe has been a nurse for 28 years in Austin and works at St. Davids Hospital. Unaccustomed to protesting, she says this time she couldn't stay away.

"He's been about denigrating nurses. Talking down nurses. Dumbing us down. We are a very mighty organization," Agbatekwe said.

As the nurses were protesting Arnold at the Four Seasons, more experienced protesters from all over the country camped out at the Driscoll Hotel. Nearly everyone at this movement has been arrested at least once for government protesting.

"I've been arrested twice, yes. For protesting. Once I was kneeling in front of the Supreme Court Steps," CodePink activist Midge Potts said.

Most of these protesters are from outside of Austin. They say they want peace on the border, and they don't want immigrants getting arrested.

"There are people from immigrants rights groups, people from peace groups that work to promote peaceful solutions as opposed to the violent ones," ACLU/CodePink activist Debbie Russell said.

Now all the protestors here say this is supposed to be a peaceful protest, they're not expecting any arrests and all they want is to have their voices heard.

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. AP contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/15353967.htm

Posted on Thu, Aug. 24, 2006

Perry urges border governors to put security first

By JOHN MORITZ
STAR-TELEGRAM AUSTIN BUREAU

AUSTIN — Opening the annual U.S.-Mexico Border Governor’s Conference, Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday said both countries should embrace immigration policies that encourage free trade and guest worker programs, but not at the expense of security on both sides of the Rio Grande.

“Any guest worker program that seeks to match American employers with foreign workers cannot succeed unless our border is secure first,” Perry said at the gathering in the Texas Capitol attended by two fellow U.S. governors and six from border states in Mexico.

The debate over border security was expected to dominate the two-day conference, which is being held largely behind closed doors and comes as Congress is seeking to hammer out an immigration bill to stem the tide of undocumented people streaming across the nation’s southern border.

Perry and the other governors who spoke during the hourlong opening session and a news conference that followed emphasized issues of agreement, such as the importance of international trade on the region’s economy. They also deplored flourishing drug trafficking and life-threatening human smuggling in remote areas along the border.

“We cannot tolerate the indignity of our fellow human beings left to die in the back of trailers,” Perry said.

Speaking on behalf of the Mexican federal government, Juan Bosco Martí, the Mexican Foreign Ministry’s director-general for North American affairs, appeared to take issue with those in the United States who advocate the construction of physical barriers along the nearly 2,000-mile border. Bosco Martí said his country is as committed to stopping illegal crossing as U.S. officials are.

“Let me stress that in no way Mexico encourages illegal immigration,” Bosco Martí said. “Mexico is doing its share to create enough well-paying jobs for its citizens.

Perry was joined at the conference opening by, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger along with the governors of the Mexican border states of Sonora, Baja, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was expected to join the conference today.


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John Moritz, 512-476-4294 jmoritz@star-telegram.com