Houston Representatives of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Mexican government participated in a conference August 5 and 6 in Houston to discuss Operation Against Smugglers Initiative on Safety and Security (OASISS), a bi-national program.

The conference featured representatives from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Mexicos office of the attorney general, secretariat of foreign affairs, secretariat of the interior, and secretariat of public safety. Both countries recognized that OASISS promotes collaboration and establishes high levels of trust between participating agencies in order to focus on human smuggling and trafficking.

The OASISS program initiated in 2005 with the objective of protecting migrants against the risks and violence they encounter. It has facilitated prosecution against individuals that engage in human smuggling and trafficking.

The successes, cooperation and shared responsibility of the OASISS program were highlighted along with the strategies implemented to safeguard the physical integrity of migrants, especially those most vulnerable. Its success lies in the commitment that both nations have established to weaken criminal organizations involved in human smuggling.

Officials from both countries agree that OASISS has become particularly successful due to the bilateral cooperation in the fight against criminal organizations resulting in a more secure border.

Both countries agreed to strengthen the cooperation in areas of mutual interest, to promote real-time information exchange, and to drive greater synergy aimed at penalizing those responsible for committing crimes related to human trafficking and smuggling in either of the two countries.

Among the accords reached between both governments was the expansion of OASISS to the Mexican State of Tamaulipas; and the corresponding regions of Rio Grande Valley and Laredo, Texas.

During this event, representatives of both countries highlighted results of their collaboration along the border where the program has been implemented. They discussed the ever-changing dynamics along the US-Mexico border in relation to human smuggling and trafficking and its effects on current procedures. Both governments reaffirmed their commitment to continue to collaborate to improve the safety of our shared border communities.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

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