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 News from Around the Americas | May 2007 
Napolitano-Richardson Letter Rips US About Border Violence
 Associated Press
| | Democratic presidential hopeful, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, addresses Google employees during a visit to Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., Monday, May 14, 2007. (AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez) |
Santa Fe — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano have accused the federal government of doing little to find a permanent solution to immigration problems and recurring violence along the U.S.-Mexican border.
The governors complained in a letter sent Tuesday to President Bush that the lawlessness along the border has been punctuated recently with killings that have affected several Arizona and New Mexico communities, namely Columbus, N.M.
Several people have been killed in recent weeks in the Mexican border town of Palomas, just south of Columbus.
Richardson has sent more state police to the area, and leaders from the Mexican state of Chihuahua also have pledged to increase police presence south of the border.
But Richardson and Napolitano, both Democrats, said the federal government is taking "no real action … to curb this violent and dangerous situation."
The two also voiced concerns about the number of National Guard troops along the border possibly being reduced this summer.
They said more Border Patrol agents need to be trained and assigned to the region and that legislation authorizing fencing along the border would not have prevented the recent violence.
The governors asked Bush to allocate funding for more border agents and security technology that could be used along the border.
New Mexico U.S. Sens. Pete Domenici, a Republican, and Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat, also spoke with Mexican Ambassador to the United States Arturo Sarukhan on Tuesday about the situation. They were told the Mexican army would move troops and equipment to the Palomas area.
"It is important that we work together to nip this problem in the bud so that this violence does not take root and spread," Domenici said. |
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