President Felipe Calderon's state visit to Washington comes at a time when Mexico is under siege by drug criminals as never before. The violence has claimed 23,000 lives since Calderon declared war on drug gangs.

Traffickers are fighting to control the drug supply into the United States. Never have the two countries faced a common enemy as powerful and as dangerous as these gangs.

This puts a premium on mutual efforts to combat narcotics gangsters, requiring both leaders to go beyond the customary expressions of friendship and work to defuse the tensions that threaten to drive Mexico and the United States apart.

The principal irritant is illicit immigration.

Mexicans consider Arizona's restrictive new immigration measure a slap in the face, prompting Calderon to issue a travel warning to Mexican tourists visiting Arizona. Although Mexico, too, is accused of mistreating its undocumented immigrants.

Lawmakers have been derelict in reforming U.S. immigration law. They won't get off the dime unless Obama, who has paid lip service to immigration reform, makes a strong commitment to enact a measure that will eliminate the need for laws like Arizona's.

Until the Mexican economy gets stronger, there is little Calderon can do to stop illegal immigration, but under his tenure security cooperation with the United States has improved significantly. He has sent at least 326 wanted fugitives to stand trial in the United States, far more than his predecessors.

The least the United States can do is speed up efforts under an anti-drug cooperation plan called the Merida Initiative to provide the $1.12 billion Congress has appropriated. As of December, only $24 million had been spent.

Finally, Mexico can lift its import duties against U.S. fruits and vegetables. All that's standing in the way is for the United States to live up to its commitments under the North American Free Trade Agreement to allow Mexican trucks that meet safety requirements to carry freight on U.S. highways.

The last official visit by a Mexican president to Washington came on the eve of 9/11, which destroyed a promising initiative to reform immigration, as well as other cooperative ventures. The passage of time has only made our mutual problems worse.