U.S. governors along border vow to help Mexico combat violence

TORREON, Mexico — Governors along the U.S.-Mexico border agreed Friday to ask their governments to declare the border a strategic zone and seek federal funds for public security, including anti-terrorism measures.

The governors also promised to fight the mistreatment of Mexican migrants who live and work in the United States, whether legal or undocumented.

"Immigration is a topic that nobody wants to talk about, but we did it effectively," said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

Earlier Friday, Richardson met with six of his Mexican counterparts to discuss migration and ways to halt a wave of drug-fueled violence that has left scores of people dead along the Mexican border.

An agreement by the federal governments of Mexico and the United States to declare the 2,000-mile-long border a "strategic zone" for security would free up funds for public security programs, including anti-terrorism measures.

"We recognize the importance of border security," Martinez said at the end of the two-day conference attended by three U.S. and six Mexican governors.

The governors' resolution also calls for better training for Mexican police and creating a database containing the identities of criminal group members, including the Zetas, Mexican soldiers-turned-drug hit men who are believed to be controlling crime-ridden Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry promised Thursday to allocate an additional $5 million to support law enforcement along the border and said he had increased the number of state troopers in the area.

"One of the greatest challenges our nations face is cutting off the drug trade and ending the violence that it has brought to both sides of the border," Perry said.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger attended the meeting for a few hours Thursday. He did not address the gathering in his first official visit to Mexico.

Earlier this year, Schwarzenegger drew criticism from Mexican officials after he praised U.S. civilian volunteer border patrols that some Mexicans consider racist.

He also outraged some Mexican-American groups by calling for a closed border, a statement he later retracted.

In pledging to take all necessary measures to oppose the mistreatment of Mexican migrants, the governors agreed to "demand respect for all citizens who go (to the United States) in search of a better quality of life," said Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy Walther.

Mexican President Vicente Fox addressed the gathering in a video message. "We will demand that the human rights of migrants be respected," he said.