BORDER TO TAKE CENTER STAGE AT CONFERENCE

EL PASO -- The sixth annual Border Security Conference, which will
begin Monday at UTEP, will focus on increasing cooperation between
Mexico and the United States.

The headline speaker will be new Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano, who will speak Tuesday morning.

University of Texas at El Paso political science Professor Kathleen
Staudt will participate in a panel Tuesday on commerce and academia.

"I want to challenge people to think about broader conceptions of
security than the militarized form of border security that currently
exists," she said.

Staudt said she would focus on poverty, violence against women and
dangerous journeys for immigrants.

Other panels will discuss the Merida Initiative, which sent hundreds
of millions of American dollars to Mexico to help fight drug
trafficking, to finance technological developments and to develop a
common homeland security policy among federal agencies.

U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, established the annual Border
Security Conference to bring together leaders from the U.S. and
Mexico to discuss security issues facing the region.

Among the panelists from Mexico will be Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz.

Staudt said the timing of the conference -- when a new U.S. president
is in office -- is especially exciting.

"There's always a new opportunity when there's a new president
elected, whether Republican or Democrat, to rethink some notions," she said.

The conference is free and open to the public.

It will take place Monday and Tuesday at the Undergraduate Learning
Center at UTEP.

Kim Alton, legislative director for Reyes, said more than 600 people
had already registered online to attend the conference.

Speakers of note

Monday

Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, 1:45-2:30 p.m.

Ambassador Benito Andion, a coordinator with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Mexico, 5:15-6 p.m. Tuesday

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, 11:15 a.m.-noon.