Strategies to deal with border problems

I am pleased to tell you about my meeting on Aug. 14 with my border governor colleagues at this year’s Border Governors Conference (BGC) in California. The BGC gives us an opportunity to talk about the issues facing our states, share ideas on how to make positive improvements in our residents’ lives and establish working relationships to make real progress on border issues.

As Border States, we deal with matters such as immigration and homeland security on a completely different level than the rest of the country. We face law enforcement challenges as human, drug and weapons smugglers conduct their enterprises along the border, and felony fugitives attempt to flee prosecution and punishment by escaping to the other country. The BGC has enabled us to share what works in our respective states so that we can apply best practices along the entire border to make the entire border region as safe and secure as possible.

This week, we are seeing many of Arizona’s strategies to deal with border problems become practices across the border region.

In June Sonora Governor Eduardo Bours and I signed a cooperative agreement to work on tracking illegal weapons through the program eTrace, which uses a computer database of confiscated guns involved in crimes, as well as their serial numbers. This is important because many guns used by violent bi-national smuggling outfits enter Mexico from the United States and perpetrate crime on both sides of the border. Our agreement also sets up random southbound checks so that people who commit crimes in Arizona will not be able to escape to Mexico. Our numerous successes are now being shared with other states, which in turn will create a safer and more secure international border.

While border security is always a primary issue, we are also working on strategies to enable better coordination between first responders on both sides of the border, as well as issues such as sustainable energy, improving the infrastructure at the border points of entry and improving the environment along the international boundary.

By working together, we’ll continue to improve life in our border region through actions that produce real results. As always, you can reach my office at (602) 542-1318 and visit http://www.azgovernor.gov/ for information and news in state government.

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