OFFICIAL DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION The International Boundary Commission, United States and Mexico, was created to carry out the provisions of the conventions or treaties of 1848, 1853, 1882, 1884, 1889, and 1905 between the United States and Mexico. The Commission has exclusive jurisdiction of all differences or questions that may arise on the boundary between the United States and Mexico from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, 2,013 miles, consisting of 1,300 miles along the Rio Grande and 20 miles along the Colorado River; also 693 miles of overland boundary between El Paso, Texas, and the Pacific Ocean. The Commission is empowered to suspend the construction of works of any character along the Rio Grande and Colorado River that contravene with existing treaties; erect and maintain monuments along the boundary; to make necessary surveys of changes brought by force of the current in both rivers, caused by either avulsion, accretion, or erosion; to mark and eliminate bancos caused by such changes; to supervise the maintenance of gauging stations along both rivers for the proper measurement of the water flow; to survey, place, and maintain monuments on all international bridges between the two countries. The Commission is authorized to call for papers of information relative to boundary matters from either country; to hold meetings at any point where questions may arise; to summon witnesses and take testimony in accordance with the rules of the courts of the respective countries. If both Commissioners shall agree to a decision, their judgment shall be binding on both Governments, unless one of them shall disapprove it within one month from the date it shall have been pronounced. (1) |