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Arizona, long a hotbed of anti-immigrant sentiment, finally swallowed its pride and sent a delegation to Mexico City, a mission designed to beckon Mexican shoppers north. The 2013 trip was known as the apology tour. Last year, California retooled its Mexico City office and hosted the Mexican president for his first U.S. state visit. Following years of acrimonious relationships with Mexico, U.S. states along the Mexican border are finding that a little good-neighbor outreach serves their economic interests. Texas is about to take what some experts call a similar mea culpa journey as Gov. Greg Abbott visits Mexico with a...

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza, who is serving his last weeks in office under the Bush administration, is being honored today with the Amistad Award for his dedication to building United States and Mexico relations. The San Antonio-Mexico Friendship Council, a nonprofit group dedicated to strengthening ties between both countries, said Garza's support of San Antonio's trade delegations to Mexico and the work that the binational North American Development Bank conducts there have earned him the award. The development bank is headquartered in San Antonio. “We are very happy that (Garza) has accepted,” said Henry Sauvignet, president of the...

This short essay will make the argument that our ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza is not representing the national interests of the United States on the immigration issue. Special Note: I admire all immigrants who believe in the American Dream. Let there be no doubt that we should all support legal immigration for those who believe in the values and ideals of this nation and tough enforcement of our border laws. 123rd Commencement Address to U.T. Graduates in Austin, Texas: “La Musica Por Dentro” by The U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza Speech segments: “And if you ever need a...

BROWNSVILLE — When Tony Garza left a promising career in statewide politics to become U.S. ambassador to Mexico, military conflicts abroad and homeland security fears at home drowned out most of the debate over illegal immigrants and drug violence. But now, border security and immigration are the hottest political buzzwords in America. Brazen violence plagues once-quiet border towns. And Garza, the son of a Brownsville gas station owner, finds himself right in the middle of it — as a top diplomat, husband of a Mexican beer heiress and, possibly, a future candidate for Texas governor or U.S. senator. In a...

 A Message from the Ambassador of the United States of America     January 31, 2006 Dear Friends and Colleagues:  As recent weeks have demonstrated, border security and immigration are two of the most complicated and difficult issues in the great diversity of questions that arise in the bilateral relationship between Mexico and the United States. Today, in President Bush’s annual State of the Union address, the President spoke directly about issues that affect Mexico and gave his thoughts on ways to improve the lives of people in both our countries.  Click here to see the full text of the President’s...

MEXICO CITY- U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza on Friday asked Mexicans to respect America's right to protect its borders and said there has been widespread misinformation about a proposal to extend to border walls and tighten immigration enforcement. In a five-page, more than 2,000-word newsletter released to coincide with the beginning of the new year, Garza wrote about House Bill 4437, which must still be considered by the U.S. Senate but would build 700 miles of additional fences along the U.S.-Mexico border while making illegal entry a felony and enlisting military and local police to help stop undocumented migrants....

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza said Thursday that the Bush administration is against proposals to build a wall along the United States' entire southern border. "The president is aware of the concerns of critics who would like to build a wall around the United States," Garza told a small group of foreign correspondents. "As the former governor of Texas, he knows that such proposals are both unrealistic and undesirable." Some lawmakers have proposed building a wall from California to the Gulf of Mexico to stop the millions of undocumented workers who sneak over the border with Mexico. Garza said...

Everybody makes mistakes — even diplomats, whose jobs call for extreme verbal precision to convey their countries' coolness, pique, displeasure and high dudgeon. When foreign relations finally boil over, an ambassador's silence — produced by recalling him for consultation — is diplomaticspeak for, "This is serious." It is rare, however, for a diplomat to use insulting language unless it is intentional. Tony Garza, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, is claiming that a small international furor he prompted last week resulted from a misstatement. No one's really buying it. Earlier this month, Garza closed the U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico,...

Mexican Elite Fetes Marriage of U.S. Envoy, Heiress By Noel Randewich MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's rich and famous celebrated the high society marriage of a charismatic U.S. ambassador to a beer baroness with a fortune worth $1.5 billion on Saturday in a lavish but very private party. Bride Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala and groom U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza invited 400 friends to a lakeside resort town for a wedding, billed as Mexico's society event of the year. Guests invited to the glamorous couple's party near Mexico City included U.S. first lady Laura Bush, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Mexican telecommunications...

CRAWFORD, Texas - (KRT) - First lady Laura Bush is leaving President Bush home alone this weekend to attend the glitzy Mexican wedding celebration of U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza and his new bride, an heir to the Corona beer fortune.

MEXICO CITY - U.S. Ambassador and Texas Republican star Tony Garza is marrying his very wealthy Mexican wife today — again — in a private ceremony at a piney woods lake resort to which Mexico City's elite retreat for weekends. Garza and Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala, a brewing and television magnate who reportedly is Mexico's wealthiest woman, were wed by the Roman Catholic Church in late February. Today's civil ceremony is for their union to be legal here. The ecstatic couple make clear that it's all about the love. But their marriage weds enormous wealth with political potential, making them a...

MEXICO CITY- U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza defended his criticism of Mexico's law enforcement efforts on the border even though it has ruffled feathers here, saying he has a responsibility to protect the safety of U.S. citizens. Garza _ who married one of Mexico's richest businesswomen over the weekend _ appeared unconcerned about the intense criticism from Mexican officials, assuring business leaders Wednesday that "increasingly, the world appreciates President Bush's steadfast efforts to end tyranny," despite Bush's continuing unpopularity in Mexico. "With regard to the U.S.-Mexico border, I want to reiterate that we have no interest in criticizing Mexico...

A DRUG MOLE IN FOX'S CABINET?  By Michelle Malkin   ·   February 06, 2005 05:15 PM  Mexican media are reporting on the arrest of Nahum Acosta, an aide to President Vicente Fox and key member of the National Action Party (PAN) in the border state of Sonora, a notorious drug hotspot favored by the Tijuana cartel: Federal authorities have detained the head of President Vicente Fox's travel staff on suspicions he was feeding information to drug lords, Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha said Saturday. Nahúm Acosta, director of the office coordinating presidential tours, was arrested by federal agents...

Garza and bride take Mexico by storm The ambassador and the beer queen grab the headlines by Jeremy Schwartz AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, February 3, 2005 MEXICO CITY -- It is a wedding story that has captured the imagination of this country and set tongues wagging throughout the capital. Ever since the news broke Sunday that U.S. Ambassador and Brownsville native Tony Garza is engaged to Mexico's wealthiest woman and heiress to the Modelo beer empire, the couple's picture has been plastered across front pages, and they have been subject to probing speculations among the Mexican media. Will the glamorous, 41-year-old...

MEXICO CITY -- U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza is engaged to marry Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala -- Mexico's richest woman -- an embassy official said Sunday. Garza, a second-generation American whose four grandparents were from Mexico, was appointed ambassador in 2002 by U.S. President George W. Bush.

The US25 million will go to groups that help protect the nations's heavily logged forests.The U.S. Agency for International Development has pledged US25 million over the next five years to protect Mexico's forests, the U.S. Embassy said Friday.The donation will funnel US900,000 to Rainforest Alliance, an environmental group that works with logging interest to ensure they obtain wood from sustainable forests and the develops new markets for certified timber.On Dec. 1, a Mexican logging concern that has been working with Rainforest Alliance since 2000, the Ejido Pueblo Nuevo in northern Durango state, will make its first furniture shipment to Swedish...

The U.S. ambassador says the rising death toll among Mexicans trying to cross the border illegally gives the issue 'a sense of urgency.' U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza on Tuesday said the U.S. Congress will likely approve limited migration reform in the next few months. Garza said the rising death toll among migrants trying to cross the border illegally has given the issue "a sense of urgency," and ventured that migration reform could come in "a couple of months, [perhaps] three months." "You'll see a lot of movement here pretty quickly," he told participants at an American Chamber of Commerce conference....

Bush names Tony Garza ambassador to Mexico WASHINGTON -- President Bush selected longtime loyalist Tony Garza to be ambassador to Mexico today, saying the native Texan has an "in-depth understanding" of the U.S.-Mexico relationship. Garza, 43, a second-generation American whose four grandparents were from Mexico, is currently one of three elected members of the Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates the state's oil and natural gas production. "The U.S. and Mexico share not only a border, but a rich history of common economic and cultural interests. Tony Garza has an in-depth understanding of the relationship between the United States and...