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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2005 
U.S. and Mexico Announce Joint Effort Against Migrant Smugglers
 Olga R. Rodriguez - Associated Press
| | The “Ark of the Covenant” desert camp near the Mexican border is providing undocumented immigrants food, water and medical attention as they cross through the desolate, blistering southwestern desert. Here, the Rev. John Fife, pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, AZ, tells volunteers they are charged with making the camps a place of “hospitality and safety.” |
Monterrey, Mexico – The U.S. and Mexican governments on Wednesday announced a bilateral effort to help authorities identify and prosecute migrant smugglers working on their common border.
The program, dubbed "OASISS," will facilitate the exchange of information and evidence to assist both governments in the prosecution of migrant smugglers and help save migrant lives, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner said in a statement.
"By exchanging critical information, coordinating enforcement operations and jointly targeting cross border criminal activity we will yield a more safe and secure border," Bonner said.
OASISS stands for Operation Against Smugglers Initiative on Safety and Security.
In a separate statement, the Mexican government said the program also includes campaigns alerting would-be migrants about the dangers of crossing illegally into the United States and training for migrant rescue crews on both sides of the border.
"The program aims to reach a legal migration that is safe, ordered and respectful of migrants' rights," it added.
The program was agreed upon by Mexico's Foreign Relations Department, the Attorney General's Office and the Interior Department in conjunction with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It comes amid rising tension between the two countries regarding border security.
On Tuesday, Mexican President Vicente Fox said that authorities on both sides of the border bear responsibility for lawlessness in the area.
"On that side and this side there is organized crime; on that side and this side there is drug consumption," Fox said. "The question is: All those drugs that cross over there, how do they get to the consumers? What is it that is being done on that side?"
He added, "The invitation is to work together."
Fox's comments came days after Govs. Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Janet Napolitano of Arizona called new attention to border security by declaring emergencies in seven southern counties, citing shortcomings by the U.S. federal government.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday the United States and Mexico are confronting tough issues but still maintain "a long, broad and deep relationship."
"In any relationship that size and with such a close neighbor there are going to be tough issues you have to work through," McCormack said. "They're issues that you work through in an open way and in a spirit of cooperation, and that's what you have now." |
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