Texans have long been in love with Mexico. While some here may have reservations about immigrants crossing the border, never have they indulged in the kind of vituperation that rocked California under Gov. Pete Wilson and Arizona, with Jan Brewer leading the charge. Indeed, Texas governors have made a point of friendship with Mexico, and none more than George W. Bush.

Now all that good will has vanished, and in its place we find regretful fear. One Dallas businessman said that when a national corporate board on which he sits wanted to gather in Mexico, they were told that they could not be protected. Two others, both sophisticated travelers, advised against going. A Dallas lawyer told a friend who was at a conference in Mexico City that his firm had an office there ready to assist.

Was this caution extreme and uncalled-for? No. While President Felipe Calderon insisted on the BBC and CBS that his country is facing up to the troubles, some Mexican officials I have met are plainly aghast at their situation. Almost 30,000 people have been killed since Calderon took office in 2006. Some say that Mexico is on the brink of civil war, and in Juarez, Tijuana and Monterey that may be true.

With drug thugs on a rampage -- some of them, like the Taliban, beheading and eviscerating their victims -- only three-to-five percent of those who commit crimes are prosecuted and convicted. Of those who do go to prison, many leave early because jails are overcrowded and their doors are opened by police guards only too happy to collaborate.

Calderon is trying to create a national police force to eliminate local corruption, and that's a good thing, but much more is needed. Prosecution must be strengthened and new prisons built, with guards who are on the side of the government. One observer is urging officials in Mexico to sue arms dealers in the U.S. who supply weapons south of the Rio Grande, with our Congress pretending not to notice. That Congress, in Washington, should make it impossible for drug dealers to repatriate their profits from this country. No transfers to Mexico by banks or credit card companies should be allowed. Fancy watches sometimes used for this purpose must be searched out and confiscated.

Texas has a special role to play. As one member of the Calderon government put it, "Texas is the linchpin of the relationship." A U.S. official echoed this observation when he said that if Texas does not favor draconian immigration laws at the national level then they will not happen. With California barely functioning, New Mexico too small to swing much weight, and Arizona on the belligerent edge, it falls to Texas to be the sensible influence.

Some in Mexico are worried about Texas at this point. They see Gov. Rick Perry as just a cut or two above Jan Brewer. That's not an accurate reading of the governor's position. He was quick to say that the Arizona law would not be right for Texas. He also has supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. But to placate members of his own party he has turned around and spoken more harshly than Mexico is used to hearing from Texas governors. It would help if Perry and others in office would separate the border, clearly a screaming crisis, from immigration which is not. We must shape up in this state and use our clout in Washington as well as Austin to rescue a neighbor in distress. Then Texans can set their fears aside and fall in love again.