President Obama embarks on his first trip to Mexico this week in an effort to warm up a cool relationship and turn rhetoric into substance on the shared challenges the two countries face.  The Obama administration has recognized that the challenges facing Mexico are serious foreign policy concerns for the United States and that they can only be overcome by both countries taking shared responsibility to address them.

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This week the Obama Administration rolls out a new approach toward partnering with Mexico to address shared security threats:  a new security plan to target drug cartel violence and visits by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.  The plan is a welcome first step not just for the challenges on the Mexican border but toward an approach to security that gets out of traditional “foreign” and “domestic” policy boxes for a comprehensive approach.

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Yesterday, the Obama administration signaled growing concern on both sides of the border with the havoc being wreaked by Mexican drug cartels. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced new measures and testified before Congress that the issue demands the “utmost attention.” Attorney General Eric Holder put it even more starkly: “They are a national security threat…We simply can't afford to let down our guard.”

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