Legal News

NM hosting border meeting AZ canceled

By (Breaking Legal News)

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson plans to host a meeting of U.S. and Mexican border governors in his state, a venue change in response to Mexican governors' objections to Arizona's tough new immigration enforcement law.

Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said Thursday the meeting will be held in Santa Fe in late September.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer called off the meeting in Phoenix after the Mexican governors planned to boycott it because of Arizona's new immigration enforcement law.

The Mexican governors said in a June letter that Arizona's law violated civil rights and they suggested moving the conference to another state.

The agenda and other details of the meeting are still being worked out, but the governors of six Mexican states are expected to attend, Gallegos said.

Gallegos said Richardson was "working with other governors to craft a tight, but productive agenda that focuses on the most pressing issues in the border region."

Richardson's announcement of the border governors' meeting came as a federal judge in Phoenix considered a lawsuit against the Arizona law, which takes effect July 29 unless blocked by a court.

The law requires police, while enforcing other laws, to question a person's immigration status if officers have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally.

Full post as published by Breaking Legal News on July 16, 2010 (boomark / email).