PROMISING TIES

Bush Should Match Fox's Border Dedication

For many Americans, the 2,000-mile border with Mexico is little more than a
law enforcement problem, a place dominated by illegal immigrants and
narcotics smugglers. For many Mexicans, though, the border is an economic
opportunity, a place where fully one-third of all the new jobs in their
country are generated.

The complex truth is that the border is both of these places. But, sadly
enough, the U.S. preoccupation with law enforcement too often overshadows
the border's tremendous economic potential. With the recent change of
administrations in Washington and Mexico City, this is a perfect moment to
reassess the region, recognizing it once and for all as an economic engine
that can spur job creation and prosperity for Mexicans and Americans alike.

In acknowledgment of the border's promising future, Mexican President
Vicente Fox has created a new cabinet-level post, commissioner of border
affairs, and named former Baja California Gov. Ernesto Ruffo Appel to the
job. Unlike the now-defunct U.S. border czar, who focused his attention
almost exclusively on drugs and illegal aliens, Ruffo's mission is economic
and social development.

When President Bush met with Fox last month at his ranch in Guanajuato, the
Mexican leader proposed that Washington also appoint a border coordinator
to confront the region's mutual economic challenges with his Mexican
counterpart. That is a superb proposal. Bush, who reportedly was receptive
to the idea, should carry it out immediately.

Instead of answering to the Justice Department, the new American border
czar should report to either the State Department or the Office of the U.S.
Trade Representative. That would emphasize that his primary mandate is to
overcome the multiple obstacles that thwart increased trade and higher
standards of living along the border.

Ruffo is a good choice to tackle the long-standing impediments to progress:
severely overburdened public infrastructure, from highways to border
crossings to sewage treatment plants; rapid population growth and an
attendant shortage of adequate housing; scarcities of such vital resources
as water and electricity; violent crime; widespread social inequalities;
and environmental degradation.

Born in San Diego, Ruffo grew up in Ensenada, eventually winning election
as mayor. A leader of the National Action Party, he became Mexico's first
opposition governor in 1989.

In his current post, Ruffo has made it clear that, in this era of free
trade, expanded cross-border commerce is the best way to overcome the
differences which long have plagued the region. "Our common language," he
says, "will be economics." That promising vision can be fulfilled only if
the United States reciprocates. President Bush can take the first step by
establishing a high-level border czar to complement Ruffo's efforts.