The 21st Century Border and The Changing Politics of the Americas

In May of 2010 President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon drafted a Declaration by The Government Of The United States Of America and The Government Of The United Mexican States The  Concerning Twenty-First Century Border Management.

This landmark declaration pledged both countries would work together to create a more harmonious border region which focused on enhancing security and a renewed emphasis on improving the economic benefits that our countries share.

Please make sure to join us on April 11th for Forward Together/Avanzando Juntos/Avançando Juntos - A Conference Looking at the Changing Politics of the Americas where we will be discussing the new level of co-operation and ways in which the United States and Mexico have worked together to make the border region safer and more economically efficient.

From the Declaration, The United States and Mexico: Hereby express their commitment to strengthen cooperation in:

• Enhancing economic competitiveness by expediting lawful trade, while preventing the transit of illegal merchandise between their two countries,
• Facilitating lawful travel in a manner that also prevents the illegal movement of people between their two countries,
• Sharing information that enhances secure flows of goods and people, and
• Disrupting and dismantling transnational criminal organizations and punishing their members and supporters.

Over the past year and a half NDN has been fortunate to see just how much cooperation has occurred between the United States and Mexico along the southern border.

In particular it has been truly exciting to see a coalition of Border Mayors from both Mexico and the United States come together to focus on security, infrastructure and the positive economic benefits to our countries.

Mayors video testimonies from the U.S. Mexico Border Mayors Conference Roundtable which highlighted the advances in safety along the border make a compelling case for the positive side of cooperation between Mexico and The United States.

In this video Mayor John Cook of El Paso, TX talks about the important positive impact of Mexican retailers on the economy of his city.

The Border Mayors also released a letter touting the important work done in making the region safer, in the letter they note:

The results of the Southwest Border Initiative speak for themselves:

• Border cities are some of the safest in the nation. Border Patrol apprehensions,
• A key indicator of illegal immigration, have decreased 36 percent in the past two years.
• At the same time, we have seen increased seizures of southbound illegal bulk cash and weapons as well as northbound drugs. 
• Since beginning the Southwest Border Initiative in 2009, Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed almost 800,000 illegal immigrants from our country and almost 200,000 of them were convicted criminals.

Please be sure to join us for our event on April 11th, where we will delve deeply into the issues raised above while also focusing in on the changing politics of Latin America and the evolving relationship between the United States and Mexico. Make sure to RSVP HERE.