Top U.S. officials are meeting in Mexico Thursday to discuss that country's drug-related violence.
Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder are holding talks in the central Mexican city of Cuernavaca with Mexico's Interior Minister, Fernando Gomez Mont, and Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora.
The trip is part of an extensive U.S.-Mexico dialogue on fighting drug violence and improving border security as the violence spills over into the United States.
Wednesday, the U.S. government outlined plans to spend more than $400 million to upgrade ports of entry and surveillance technologies along the border with Mexico.
The Obama administration has said it will dispatch more agents, equipment and experts to the southwest U.S. border region in an effort to counter the violence.
President Barack Obama is expected to visit Mexico in mid-April.
Drug-related violence has killed more than 7,000 people in Mexico since the beginning of last year.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, more than 90 percent of guns used in violent crimes in Mexico are brought in illegally from the United States.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
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