The Mexican state of Nuevo León has signed on to create Mexico's first comprehensive child recovery program. The plan came after Nuevo León prosecutors, child protection officials, investigators, and legislators met in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Monterrey, Mexico, in September for the Department of Justice's AMBER Alert Southern Border Initiative.
More than 4.5 million people live in the Mexican state, which borders Texas. Nuevo León Attorney General Alejandro Garza y Garza signed an agreement on child protection related issues with the Attorney General of Texas that will be the foundation for the plan.
"We want to be able to recover children in our country," said Manuel Guzmán, an engineer with a training and education company in Monterrey, Mexico who is assisting with the development of distance learning courses related to the AMBER Alert Southern Border Initiative. "Nuevo León is a state in transit because many people from other countries come through here to go to the United States. We have to worry about these situations and how they affect missing children."
Guzmán said the attorney general, governor, and legislators in Nuevo León will work together to establish good relationships with the border states on the issue of missing and abducted children. Efforts will also be made to educate the public and train police officers on child recovery practices.
Ron Laney, Associate Administrator of OJJDP's Child Protection Division, said Nuevo León's plan is very impressive considering the strife going on in Mexico right now. "They are at war," said Laney. "It speaks volumes that they care enough to come to a meeting to learn about protecting children. They know they are looking at life and death every day, but that has not stopped their commitment to look out for children."
Baja California was the first Mexican state to establish an AMBER Alert program in May 2009, and was soon followed by the state of Tamaulipas. Jim Walters, Southern Border Initiative Liaison for Training and Technical Assistance, said Nuevo León is taking child recovery efforts a step further. "Nuevo León has started the first regional and comprehensive child recovery program in Mexico," said Walters. "They are interested in creating a program that works to recover missing, endangered and abducted children, regardless of borders."