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Cross Border Cooperation Continues in The Area

Trump Administration Threats to deport Mexican citizens and continued talk of building a border wall have Mexico on edge.  But the cross border relationship between some border cities continues to be focused on cooperation.  KAWC's Kim Johnson reports..................

Last week the Trump Administration shared plans, through the Department of Homeland Security, for aggressive enforcement of immigration law.  DHS officials say they'll hire five thousand new Border Patrol officers and seek to expand state and local law enforcement of federal immigration law.  Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls recently made a trip to San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora to reassure mayor Jose Enrique Reina Lizarraga that the cross border cooperation of recent years will not end.

Mayor Nicholls, " I think there is some ah, hesitation to our neighbors to the south on what this is gonna mean and how's this gonna affect our local relationships.  So for me it's about working really hard to making sure that they realize our local relationships aren't changing, regardless what's happening on the national stage."

Yuma's mayor told his Sonoran counterpart that our area is united by culture and economics and that's not going to change.

Mayor Nicholls, "Working together we can benefit both sides and it doesn't have to be a win/lose.  We're focused on the win/win scenarios."

Mayor Nicholls says he has yet so see any negative kickback in this area from the Trump Administration's plans for more aggressive immigration enforcement.  For KAWC News I'm Kim Johnson