United States Foreign Relations Mexico

U.S. and Mexican authorities said Thursday that they were investigating what one official here called a huge smuggling ring that transports children to the United States. The ring, operating for several years, had delivered more than 100 children--at least 20 of them from El Salvador--to the U.S., according to federal law enforcement officials in Mexico. The countries of origin of the other children were not immediately clear.

Mexican officials cautioned Monday that any move to extradite notorious Tijuana drug cartel chief Benjamin Arellano Felix to face justice in the United States could take months, if not years. Arellano Felix, one of the most wanted men on both sides of the border, was captured over the weekend in an operation that one high-ranking U.S. official called a "sea change" marking Mexico's more aggressive tactics against drug traffickers who until recently operated with impunity.

A group of American senators promised a new era in U.S.-Mexican relations Wednesday, pledging to forge a guest-worker program to bring Mexicans legally into the United States. The five senators also showered praise on Mexican leader Vicente Fox, saying his new presidency will end decades of stagnation in bilateral relations. The delegation of four Republicans and one Democrat, led by Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), also said its members will work to eliminate a U.S.

Mexico's Supreme Court gave the green light to the extradition of citizens wanted for crimes by the United States, opening the door for suspected drug traffickers and others to face trial across the border. A Supreme Court spokesman said the agreement is not retroactive and applies only to the U.S. The ruling means that there is now a "fast track" for extraditing drug traffickers and other offenders to the U.S.

On her first day on the job, Martha Irene Lara seemed effervescent. "This is your home," she repeatedly told assembled reporters in her initial news conference as Mexico's consul general in Los Angeles. Her welcoming style, while at odds with the traditionally stiff demeanor of Mexican officials, is indicative of the changed political reality in Mexico, where a new president eschews the studied formality of his predecessors.

Nearly 300 former Mexican migrant laborers gathered Sunday near downtown Los Angeles to learn about the latest efforts to find millions of dollars deducted from their paychecks under the World War II braceros work program. After years of being ignored by the Mexican government, the men and their families at the midday Plaza Olvera rally cheered upon learning that Mexican President Vicente Fox recently expressed interest in opening an investigation into the missing funds.

The United States on Tuesday lost one of the most contentious disputes under the historic North American Free Trade Agreement when a special panel found that Mexican trucks should no longer be denied unfettered access to U.S. roads. The decision immediately forces the Bush administration to somehow honor its free trade beliefs while ensuring that Mexico's trucks and lax regulations aren't allowed to jeopardize U.S. highway safety.

Safety advocates opposed to granting Mexican trucks unrestricted access to U.S. roads under the North American Free Trade Agreement are pushing a compromise that would limit the number of trucks allowed. The move could give the Bush administration a political opening to resolve a contentious trade conflict between the United States and Mexico while also addressing concerns about the safety of Mexican trucks. Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.

In his first venture abroad, President Bush travels to Mexico this week to launch a new era in relations between the United States and its increasingly important neighbor to the south. Friday's trip to Mexican President Vicente Fox's ranch in Guanajuato state has been deliberately designed to ease Bush into foreign policy, widely characterized as his weak suit.

A U.S.-Mexican panel Wednesday urged Presidents Bush and Vicente Fox to craft a migration strategy that would meet both nations' labor needs and defuse tensions over illegal Mexican migration to the United States. The group's study was issued just two days before Bush is to visit Mexico for the first meeting between the two new presidents. Both have said migration will be a key theme of their talks.