[Paleopsych] CNN: Border emergency declared in New Mexico

[Premise Checker]

Border emergency declared in New Mexico - Aug 12, 2005
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/12/newmexico/

[On the other hand, this was not reported in the New York Times, either. Google 
News returns only ten sources for this. Lou Dobbs interviewed the governor last 
night.

[So how *do* you distinguish good from bogus information on the Internet?]

Governor says area 'devastated' by human and drug smuggling

    (CNN) -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson declared a state of emergency
    Friday in four counties along the Mexican border that he said have
    been "devastated" by crimes such as the smuggling of drugs and illegal
    immigrants.

    The declaration said the region "has been devastated by the ravages
    and terror of human smuggling, drug smuggling, kidnapping, murder,
    destruction of property and the death of livestock. ...

    "[It] is in an extreme state of disrepair and is inadequately funded
    or safeguarded to protect the lives and property of New Mexican
    citizens."

    New Mexico shares 180 miles of border with the Mexican state of
    Chihuahua.

    "The situation is out of hand," Richardson said Friday night on CNN,
    noting that one 54-mile stretch is particularly bad.

    The Mexican government issued a statement in which it acknowledged the
    problems along the border, but said it continues to make consistent
    efforts to target them along with U.S. authorities.

    It said some of Richardson's views stem from "generalizations that do
    not correspond to the spirit of cooperation and understanding that are
    required for dealing with problems of common concern along the
    border."

    Richardson's declaration makes $750,000 in state emergency funds
    available to Dona Ana, Luna, Grant and Hidalgo counties.

    Richardson pledged an additional $1 million in assistance for the
    area, his office said in a news release.

    He said on CNN that the funds will be used to hire additional law
    enforcement personnel and pay officers overtime.

    In announcing the state of emergency, Richardson -- a Democrat who
    served in President Clinton's Cabinet -- criticized the "total
    inaction and lack of resources from the federal government and
    Congress" in helping protect his state's residents along the border.

    "There's very little response from the Border Patrol," he said on CNN.
    "They're doing a good job, but they don't have the resources."

    The governor announced the move after a helicopter and ground tour of
    the border near Columbus, New Mexico, the statement said.

    He said on CNN that he "saw the trails where these illegal routes take
    place" as well as fenced areas along the border where the fence is
    "literally nonexistent."

    According to Richardson's statement announcing the declaration,
    "Recent developments have convinced me this action is necessary --
    including violence directed at law enforcement, damage to property and
    livestock, increased evidence of drug smuggling, and an increase in
    the number of undocumented immigrants."

    He called on Mexico to "bulldoze the abandoned town of Las Chepas,
    which is directly over the border from Columbus."

    The statement went on to say that "Las Chepas is a notorious staging
    and resting area for those who smuggle drugs and immigrants into the
    United States."

    Some of the pledged funds will be used to create a field office for
    the New Mexico Office of Homeland Security to focus specifically on
    the border.

    There will also be new efforts to protect livestock in the area near
    Columbus, "along a favorite path for illegal immigration where a
    number of livestock have been stolen and killed," the statement said.

    Richardson said he wanted residents of the four counties "to know my
    administration is doing everything it can to protect them."

    Alejandro Cano, secretary of industrial development for the Mexican
    state of Chihuahua -- which borders New Mexico -- pledged to support
    Richardson's efforts, the statement said.

    Richardson told CNN he met with Mexican governors several weeks ago on
    border security.

    "My people on my side asked me to take this step, and I've done so
    reluctantly," Richardson told CNN. "As governor, I have to protect the
    people I represent."

    He noted he is the nation's only Hispanic governor, and "we're a state
    that's been very good to legal migrants. ... This action, I believe,
    had to be taken."

    The Mexican Foreign Ministry sent Richardson a letter Friday saying it
    has requested that Mexican consuls in Albuquerque and El Paso, Texas,
    meet "as soon as possible" with New Mexico officials "to promote
    pertinent action by the authorities of both countries in the framework
    of existing institutional mechanisms."