The four U.S. border governors, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Texas Governor Rick Perry, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson met with the six Mexican border state governors: Governor Jose Reyes Baeza (Chihuahua), Governor Eugenio Elorduy Walther (Baja California), Governor Eduardo Bours Castelo (Sonora), Governor Humberto Moreira Valdes (Coahuila), Governor Eugenio Hernandez Flores(Tamaulipas) and Governor Jose Natividad Gonzales Paras, (Nuevo Leon).
All ten governors approved a declarationthat urged cooperation on border security, on combating cross-border criminal activity and called on both federal governments to stress economic development in the border region.
Aletter, addressed to Representative Dennis Hastert and Senator Bill Frist and signed by Governors Richardson, Napolitano, Schwarzenegger and Perry, requests more federal support on our nation's border and calls on the U.S. Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation before the end of the year.
"Instead of playing politics by holding dozens of field hearings that do little but stir the pot of discontent, we urge you to get back to work and pass legislation that puts the interests of taxpayers first and solves this crisis once and for all," declared the letter.
Both the U.S. governors' letter on immigration reform and the border security resolutions are the result of determined cooperation and ongoing dialog between the border governors.
