Border Governors Meet

California Gov. Gray Davis hosted colleagues from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border this week in Sacramento, discussing regional concerns about border crossings, the environment and the economy at the 19th Annual Border Governors Conference. Topics included visas for Mexican workers seeking to work as farm hands in the United States and recent incidents in Arizona in which ranchers have detained illegal immigrants trespassing on their land. The controversial detentions have been accompanied by reports in the Mexican media that vigilante ranchers have shot at immigrants.

Conference participants included Republican presidential candidate and Texas Gov. George W. Bush; Arizona Gov. Jane Dee Hull; New Mexico Gov. Gary E. Johnson; and Mexican Govs. Tomas Yarrington Ruvalcaba of Tamaulipas, Alejandro Gonzalez Alcocer of Baja California, Patricio Martinez Garcia of Chihuahua, Enrique Martinez y Martinez of Coahuila, and Fernando Canales Clariond of Nuevo Leon.