*Administration of Barack H. Obama, 2010 *

**Declaration by the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Mexican States Concerning Twenty-First Century Border Management **

*May 19, 2010 *

The Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Mexican States, hereinafter referred to collectively as the "Participants,"

*Acknowledging* their shared interest in creating a border that promotes their economic competitiveness and enhances their security through the secure, efficient, rapid, and lawful movement of goods and people;

*Expressing* a desire to fundamentally restructure the way in which the shared border between Mexico and the United States is managed to enhance public safety, welcome lawful visitors, encourage trade, strengthen cultural ties, and reduce the cost of doing business in North America;

*Recognizing* the importance of securing and facilitating the lawful flow of goods, services, and people between their countries;

*Understanding* that joint and collaborative administration of their common border is critical to transforming management of the border to enhance security and efficiency;

*Recognizing* the potential value, both in terms of enhancing security and reducing congestion, of shifting certain screening and inspection activities, traditionally performed at the immediate border, to geographic departure and transit zones away from the border and of considering other non-traditional border crossing concepts;

*Appreciating* that enhancing the flow of information needed for effective shared border management requires professionalism in law enforcement, strong institutional capacity, and effective interagency coordination in and between both countries;

*Recognizing* that transnational criminal organizations threaten the economies and security of both the United States and Mexico and that both countries share responsibility for the conditions that give rise to these criminal organizations and that allow them to endure, as well as shared responsibility for remedying those conditions;

*Understanding* that law enforcement coordination between the Participants is essential to preventing crime and to disrupting and dismantling transnational criminal organizations;

*Sharing* an interest in ensuring a legal, orderly system for managing migration between their countries and developing coordinated procedures for managing repatriation and ensuring that it remains safe and humane;

*Hereby express* their commitment to strengthen cooperation in:

*I. Areas of Collaboration *

In light of these mutual understandings, the Participants expect to work in a collaborative and coordinated fashion across a wide-range of border-related activities, including:* *

*II. Implementation and Oversight *

To coordinate and facilitate work aimed at furthering the goals noted in this Declaration, the Participants intend to establish a Twenty-First Century Border Bilateral Executive Steering Committee (ESC) composed of representatives from the appropriate federal government departments and offices. For the United States, this includes representatives from the Departments of State, Homeland Security, Justice, Transportation, Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, Defense, and the Office of the United State Trade Representative, and for Mexico includes representatives from the Secretariats of Foreign Relations, Interior, Finance and Public Credit, Economy, Public Security, Communications and Transportation, Agriculture, and the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic. Each Participant should integrate its own section of the ESC section into the relevant interagency processes to achieve better bilateral coordination.

It is expected that the inaugural meeting of the ESC, to be convened no later than August 19, 2010, will develop a mutually accepted action plan to realize the goals of this Declaration and identify working groups, drawing, where appropriate, upon existing bilateral, border-related groups, to implement the action plan.

*III. General Principles *

This Declaration represents an understanding between the Participants and does not constitute a legally binding agreement. The Participants understand that activities in support of the goals mentioned in this Declaration are to be carried out in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Participants' countries, and applicable international agreements to which the Participants' countries are parties. The Participants are expected to bear their own costs in engaging in any such activities. All such activities are subject to the availability of funds and human resources.

NOTE: An original was not available for verification of the content of this declaration.

*Categories:* Joint Statements : Mexico :: Border management.

*Subjects:* Defense and national security : Border security; Immigration and naturalization : Illegal immigration; Immigration and naturalization : Reform; Mexico : Border with U.S., infrastructure and security; Mexico : Counternarcotics efforts, cooperation with U.S.; Mexico : Crime and narcotrafficking; Mexico : Illegal immigrants to U.S.; Mexico : Relations with U.S.; Mexico : Trade with U.S.

*DCPD Number:* DCPD201000398.