Top federal law enforcement officials from the U.S. and Mexico shared a message of strengthening ties between the two governments and the broader community during a ceremony Friday at Pima Community College.
โItโs an opportunity to show partnership with Mexicoโs federal police and the work that we want to do in the community, to build trust and cooperation,โ said Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske.
Speaking before more than 250 people at Pimaโs Center for the Arts Proscenium Theatre, most of whom were in uniforms representing agencies from both sides of the border, Kerlikowske noted that safety and cooperation were key concerns to CBP and the Mexican Federal Police.
U.S. and Mexican officials have been working on that partnership for some time, with meetings held in Washington, D.C., and Mexico City. Kerlikowske and Mexican Federal Police Commissioner Enrique Galindo Ceballos decided it was time to take their โmessage of cooperationโ to the border, Kerlikowske said.
Traveling to sister cities in both countries with the 14-piece Mexican Federal Police Mariachi band and the 50-piece Mexican Federal Police Woodwind Symphony, they visited McAllen, Texas, and Reynosa, Tamaulipas, last month.
On Thursday, the event moved to Nogales, Sonora. At the end of the month theyโll visit Tijuana and San Diego.
Sharing this message with the community allows both governments the opportunity to show their renewed cooperation, said Damiรกn Canales, chief commissioner for intelligence at the Mexican Federal Police, who spoke on behalf of Galindo Ceballos.
While the two governments have been working together on border issues for some time, he feels thereโs now a stronger connection between the two agencies.
โIn Mexico, we understand that if each of us only works on our side, the problems will just be harder to solve,โ he said.
Their partnership is not just about border security, but also facilitating travel and trade, whether itโs in produce or manufacturing, Kerlikowske said, adding thereโs also an emphasis to address the issue of use-of-force incidents involving federal agents.
โCustoms and Border Protection is much more transparent and open to the public, and theyโre much more responsive when it comes to complaints about use of force and telling the public what actually happened,โ he said.
CBP is addressing the concerns of Mexicoโs Foreign Ministry regarding Border Patrol shootings, Kerlikowske said, adding that the concerns have been reduced. Violence is down not only because of increased transparency, but less use of lethal force.
To accomplish binational safety, thereโs an increased focus on both sides of the border working together on joint patrols and using dual communication.
โTheyโre patrolling on their side of the border; weโre patrolling on ours, but we can exchange information through a new communications system, so that we can speak directly to them,โ Kerlikowske said. โTheyโre seeing things; weโre seeing things. We need to be able to interdict on either side.โ
The vast majority of people now entering the country illegally are not from Mexico, but from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, Kerlikowske said.
Heโll soon be traveling to those countries to meet with their government officials and CBP liaisons to talk about what can be done, together, to reduce the flow of people attempting the dangerous migration to the United States.
โIf those three Central American countries had better safety, better security, a better economy, better opportunities for education โ that would be one of the better ways of reducing the number of people that want to come to the United States,โ he said.
