Washington, DC   – The U.S.-Mexico Border and Immigration Task Force responded positively to announcements made yesterday by President Barack Obama and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano on new border security and law-enforcement measures the Administration is taking in response to U.S.-Mexico border violence and drug trafficking.  Today, Secretary Napolitano and senior Homeland Security staff testified at a hearing before the  Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs  Committee entitled “ Southern Border Violence: Homeland Security Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Responsibilities.”  The U.S.-Mexico Border and Immigration Task Force is made up of state and local law-enforcement, elected officials, faith leaders, and community-based organizations along the border from Brownsville in the East to San Diego in the West.

“It is clear that the President understands the complexity and challenges of border security,” said Fernando Garcia, Executive Director of the Border Network for Human Rights in El Paso, which is a co-convener of the Task Force.  “This plan amounts to a ‘comprehensive bi-national border strategy’ that is the right approach and we applaud the White House for not succumbing to the temptation to over-simplify national security strategies.”