BORDER GOVERNORS TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY

AUSTIN -- The United States and Mexico must find a way to expand trade and
improve the economy of both countries while still securing the border from
would-be terrorists, drug smugglers and human traffickers, Gov. Rick Perry
said Thursday as he kicked off a meeting of 10 border governors.
Immigration and border security will top the agenda for the two-day
meeting, which also involves the governors of California, Arizona, New
Mexico and the Mexican states of Sonora, Baja, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo
Leon and Tamaulipas.

"We are bound not only by a common border but by a common future," Perry
said at the opening ceremony of the 24th annual Border Governors
Conference. "... Simply put, our prosperity must be shared or it will be
short lived."

The governors met behind closed doors for about an hour and a half on
Thursday before the formal opening ceremony and will meet privately again
Friday morning.

They are expected to discuss a joint declaration sponsored by California
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that would
establish a cross-border law enforcement task force that would target human
traffickers, drug smugglers and other criminals.

The declaration also would call on both federal governments to criminalize
border tunnels and would support significant penalties for people who break
tunneling laws. Richardson was not present on Thursday but was expected to
arrive on Friday.

The meetings prompted several small protests throughout the city, including
one outside the conference host hotel that drew about three dozen people
upset over the plight of immigrant soldiers fighting for the U.S. military
in the Middle East.

One sign said "Immigrants are not cannon fodder." Another read "Immigrant
soldiers deserve citizenship." Police officers stood nearby, but the
protests were mostly peaceful.

Protesters also gathered outside the Capitol and the nearby Governor's
Mansion demanding an end to the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border
and to migrant raids and roundups.

President Bush called in May for deploying 6,000 National Guard troops to
the U.S.-Mexico border region. On Wednesday, the Bush administration
announced that nearly all non-Mexican illegal immigrants caught entering
the United States are being held until they can be returned home, rather
than released pending their return. Mexicans found to be entering the
country illegally are almost immediately returned, officials said.

While touring the Texas-Mexico border on Thursday, Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff said the number of people arrested while trying
to sneak across the border has dropped by one-third since the federal
government stepped up enforcement and detention procedures. He said he
believes that indicates that illegal immigration has dropped as well.

At the opening ceremony later that day, Chertoff touted the president's
guest worker plan and said both countries need to address the "powerful
economic draw" that is bringing immigrants to the United States.

"If we do not address that draw, we are trying to essentially violate the
law of supply and demand," he said.

Juan Bosco Marti Ascencio, an official with Mexico's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, said his country has worked hard to improve economic and social
conditions in its communities so people are not forced to leave them for
the United States.

But he emphasized the importance of balancing security and the efficient
flow of goods and people between the two countries.

"As many people on both sides of the border say, more bridges and fewer
walls are needed," he said.

U.S. House and Senate members have passed differing bills this year dealing
with immigration and border security, but they've yet to work out the
differences in the two versions.

Associated Press writers April Castro in Austin and Lynn Brezosky in
Weslaco contributed to this report.