TUCSON — A pair of hot criminal issues — immigration and mortgage fraud — have to be constantly watched so they don’t boil over, U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Dennis Burke said.

Crimes associated with the border with Mexico — human and drug smuggling and other criminal activities by people on both sides of the international boundary — are a given and remain the No. 1 issue for the district, he told the Herald/Review during a recent interview in his Tucson office.

Border problems have been caused by “historic failures at the many levels, especially the federal,” said Burke, who took over the job as the U.S. government’s top prosecutor with his swearing-in on Sept. 16.

“The answer cannot be the status quo,”  Burke said, noting immigration reform will be a top priority for the administration and Congress this year.

He will have a seat at the table of what he said “will be heated debates on immigration” as chairman of the Subcommittee on Border and Immigration Law Enforcement of the U.S. Attorney General’s Advisory Committee.

That doesn’t mean Burke will be the point man on the many issues expected to arise when President Barack Obama tosses immigration reform to Congress. But he will be one of many who will provide advice on legal points to such people as the attorney general.

According to news reports, the president is expected to make a pitch for immigration reform in his State of the Union address.

Burke said he expects the issue will be as heated as health care reform was last year.

However, on his plate are criminal activities on Arizona’s border  with Sonora, Mexico.

Until the major economic differences between the two nations are addressed, illegal activities driven by greed on both sides of the border will continue, he said.

Having more Border Patrol, Immigration and Custom Enforcement or other federal law enforcement officers “is not going to do it,” Burke said.

Mexico lacks a large middle class like the U.S. has, so people of that nation are looking for chances to better themselves economically. These can include criminal activities such as smuggling drugs and people, he said.

Taking advantage are the traffickers “who are driven by greed,” Burke said.

Mexican President Felipe Calderón is taking on drug traffickers who have become a larger part of that nation’s economy than tourism, he said.

“He’s a brave man,” Burke said of Calderón.

Taking on the drug cartels has been a death sentence for many Mexican citizens, and even when Calderón leaves office, he will a marked man “for the rest of his life,” Burke said.

Economic refugees will keep coming from Mexico until the U.S. government once and for all comes to grips with reality, he said.

Most of the people leaving Mexico for better lives in the U.S. are coming from the seven southern states in Mexico, not Sonora, Burke remarked.

One way the U.S. can help that situation is by providing resources, including financial, to help build a real middle class in Mexico, which currently isn’t big enough to allow for economic upward mobility, he said.

Burke went on to say people must understand greed isn’t just south of the border.

Many American citizens are making money by either taking weapons into Mexico or buying them in the United States and having others smuggle them to Mexico, he said.

“Greed has no border,” he said.

That is why there has been an increase in southbound checks. People who violate the laws, in ways including taking large sums of money into Mexico, will be prosecuted by his office, Burke said.,

The U.S. attorney’s office for Arizona has a pilot program with federal Mexican prosecutors by providing evidence to help them prosecute Mexican citizens apprehended in the U.S. for drug trafficking, he said.

Currently, the pilot program involves the Nogales area, and there are 10 cases pending in Mexico based on information and evidence provided by his office, said Burke, a former drug prosecutor.

Eventually, he wants to expand the program.

“Transporting illegal drugs is illegal in Mexico, too,” Burke said.

When it comes to the border issues, including revising immigration laws in the United States, everyone must look for new, better solutions, and perhaps that means revising the system that limits the number of people who can obtain work permits to come into the U.S., Burke said.

What also must happen is to prove the borders can be protected on the U.S. side as Congress works on immigration reform, he said.

A number of legal issues must be reviewed, so Burke said he is glad to be on the attorney general’s committee that will look seriously at border and law enforcement policies.