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Mexico City, February 22, 2007- “On Tuesday, February 20th, Arturo Herrera Solis, the Mexican representative of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), wrote a letter to his U.S. counterpart, Commissioner Carlos Marin, to note that it was his understanding that three days ago, U.S. government workers, while working on a border fence in between Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora, between markers 87 and 88, apparently had entered into Mexican territory. Earlier today, I spoke with Commissioner Marin and he expressed to me that officials from both the U.S. and Mexican sections of the IBWC shortly will visit the site to ascertain exactly where this incident may have occurred.
“The U.S. is sensitive to Mexican concerns and is working with the Department of Homeland Security and the Border Patrol to ensure that U.S. officials coordinate and work closely with the IBWC regarding the placement of infrastructure to make sure that plans and construction do not interfere with the boundary in any way and are actually being conducted on the U.S. side of the border.
“This, of course, is not the first allegation of officials from either the U.S. or Mexico entering the other country’s territory by mistake. The United States wants to make clear that it has the deepest respect for the integrity of the sovereignty of Mexican soil and for the importance of the border shared by our two countries.
“It should be noted that U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security Michael Chertoff was in San Luis, Arizona on Tuesday, February 20th, as part of the Secure Border Initiative, a comprehensive, multi-year plan to make the border region safer and more secure, and was photographed there at a construction sight of a border fence. Secretary Chertoff was not present in Agua Prieta, Sonora and all of his activities on Tuesday occurred on the U.S. side of the border.”
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