"It's my first time I come down for the Abrazo and I don't know what to expect, although I did attend a similar event in Del Rio and Acuña, but it's great to recognize both cities on either side of our border."

"We have a special relationship with the Mexican community. We need to facilitate international commerce and foster this relationship."

Aside from acknowledging the important relationship between both nations, cultures and people, Congressman Hurd was gracious enough to address an issue which is very prevalent and at the forefront of national news, that of immigration and amnesty as what he termed a 'new wave' of mass immigration of women and even unaccompanied minors from countries like Honduras, Belize and Costa Rica.

"I was just with the secretary of ICE, the head person for Immigration Customs Enforcement and they believe there is going to be another wave of unaccompanied minors late in the spring early summer. They are building facilities to be ready for that. Hopefully we are not going to have these kids in bad situations the way they were this past summer," stated the congressman who also attended a symposium with administrators of the UMC on Saturday morning.

In reference to the thirteen Honduran nationals who were given political asylum on Thursday, "There is law for political asylum, this happened when a number of Cubans defected when the Castros came into power. I think it highlights some of the problems that are happening in Honduras and Belize and Costa Rica that need to be addressed. We're sending a lot of foreign aid to these countries and we need to make sure that they're doing things. Like having the right internal procedures. That they're treating their people with dignity and respect. Immigration is an important issue, With 825 miles of bor- der in my district, this is a huge issue to me. We also need to fix our broken visa system. People need to come here legally, not illegally, I'm against amnesty, but I support people that want to come here and become productive members of society, but it has to be dome the right way."