CWAG Alliance Partnership Fact Sheet
What is the CWAG Alliance Partnership?

• Established in 2006, the CWAG Alliance Partnership is a cooperative program involving the Conference of Western Attorneys General (CWAG), Council of State Governments, National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other public and private entities.
• This year — backed by a vigorous infusion of $2.7 million in funding from INL — the CWAG Alliance Partnership has more than 50 bi-national exchanges and training programs scheduled in Mexican and U.S. locations for a variety of law enforcement professionals.

• In 2009-2010, four programs for prosecutors, investigators, forensic scientists and the Mexican Judiciary educated more than 4,000 participants from 31 Mexican states and the Mexican Federal Government. Additionally, the relationships formed during 2009-2010 and previous Alliance Partnership programming years have resulted in more than a dozen new requests for assistance and seminars in Mexican states and by federal entities of the Mexican Government.

  These training programs:

  • Promote cross-jurisdictional cooperation on law enforcement issues
  • Build efficiency and transparency in court systems
  • Promote a consistent application of Rule of Law disciplines such as oral advocacy
  • Nurture cooperation on issues from consumer fraud and piracy to drug trafficking and money laundering
  • Ensures that law enforcement and judicial officials work together in ways that apply a consistent Rule of Law focus across jurisdictions in U.S. and Mexican states

• A decade of collaborative efforts between the states of New Mexico and Chihuahua inspired a promising template for state-to-state skill-focused trainings. The cultivation of expanded relationships led to bi-national efforts such as legislation enacted by the New Mexico State Legislature aimed at criminalizing human trafficking, which Arizona and several other state legislatures are now considering as a model for similar legislation.
• Colorado's training efforts with Mexico led to a joint ICE-Colorado Attorney General's Office apprehension of a murder fugitive.
• A multi-jurisdictional effort led by former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard resulted in a $50 million money laundering settlement.

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