Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Border conference draws Chertoff, Calif's governor
By Andrew Egan
Daily Texan (U. Texas)
08/25/2006

(U-WIRE) AUSTIN, Texas — Resolute calls for increased border security by Gov. Rick Perry marked the opening day of the 24th annual U.S.-Mexico Border Governors Conference Thursday, an event that drew high-ranking officials such as Director of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the Texas Capitol.

During the second day of the conference, U.S. and Mexican governors will meet separately followed by a joint meeting to finalize and ratify the convention's joint declaration.

The conference will end with closing ceremonies today at noon in the Capitol's Senate Chamber.

The group of governors from the 10 states along the U.S. and Mexico border meet in alternating cities every year. Last year's conference was held in Torreon in Coahuila, Mexico.

Topics discussed among the governors and their representatives range from agriculture and water development to border crossings. Perry's opening comments focused on additional border security, such as increased law enforcement presence and increased screening measures for those entering the country.

"It would be naive to assume that among the economic immigrants there are not also those who wish to cause us great harm," said Perry, who is also the conference's chairman.

Perry stressed the need for cooperation between the two countries to address many of the issues facing the border region, such as immigrants' rights.

"We live in an interdependent world and we have one common destiny," Perry said.

While Perry's comments and those of special guest speaker Chertoff focused largely on border security, Mexican officials turned their attention to other matters. Mexican Director-General of Foreign Affairs for North America Bosco Marti focused on water rights and increasing the number of border crossings.

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

Nine of the governors were in attendance at the opening ceremonies and posed together for a formal portrait immediately beforehand. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was absent from the first day because of a prior commitment, but will join the rest of the contingent for meetings today.

At the end of the conference, a unanimously agreed upon joint declaration will be signed by the governors. The declaration will consist of recommendations from various roundtable discussions that have met over the past year.

However, the joint declaration may not be the main topic of discussion among the governors this year, said Bill Hume, the planning and policy director for Richardson.

"Governors Schwarzenegger and Richardson offered a declaration on border security and immigration issues that was delivered to the governors last Wednesday," Hume said.

The new declaration cites the need of federal governments in both countries to alleviate the problems that contribute to illegal immigration and that all immigrants in the U.S. should be made citizens, said Hume, who drafted the declaration.

"We need to bring them under the letter of American law," he added.

Some are trying to effect policy through declarations, while others are attempting to do so through non-traditional methods. The Crawford chapter of Veterans for Peace held a demonstration outside the Driskill Hotel to protest for immigrant rights while the women's peace organization Code Pink, "arrested" actors dressed like the four U.S. governors attending the conference.

"We're here to say we want to build friendships and not fences," said Medea Benjamin, Code Pink's co-founder.

[ Back to Student Voices ]