WASHINGTON — Just back from a trip to Mexico City, Congresswoman Lois Capps said this week that the United States and Mexico are concerned about a lot of the same issues, and the two countries should work more closely to confront mutual challenges.

"There are such natural ways that we can work with them and support one another, and we can do this without getting into these contentious immigration issues, though they loom large as well," she said.

Capps, D-Santa Barbara, and four other House members traveled to Mexico City last week for three days of meetings with members of the Mexican Congress as well as business leaders and other officials in the Mexican government.

The trip was arranged and paid for by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, which operates a Mexico institute.

Other Congress members making the trip were Reps. Howard Berman and Zoe Lofgren, both California Democrats; Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-Texas; and Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

"We had a wonderful exchange, a wonderful visit," Capps said.

Two mutual areas of interest that came up during the meetings were Mexico's illegal drug trade and human trafficking.

Drug trafficking is troubling for both countries, because drugs from Mexico often make their way into the United States, where they are sold on the black market.

"It's the direct use in the United States that feeds this trafficking situation," Capps said. "There is no way either of our countries will solve these problems alone. They are the suppliers and the runners, but we are the ones who are fueling this black-market economy from our drug use."

Likewise, human trafficking is a tragedy that touches both countries, Capps said.

"We read about and understand the horrendous stories of kidnappings and rapes and murders of young women workers along the border as they are seeking employment for their families," said Capps, who suggested some kind of dual legislation might be possible to deal with the problem.

Border security is another a big concern for the Mexican government, Capps said, and not just the border with the United States. Capps said Mexican officials are particularly worried about their border with Central America, which, she said, is "almost lawless" and hard to control.

The lack of enforcement should disturb Americans, because many people who enter Mexico illegally from the south eventually make their way north to the United States, Capps said.

Regarding the ongoing debate over immigration reform in this country, Capps said, Mexican officials are troubled that economic conditions cause many of their citizens to cross over illegally into the United States looking for work. They also fear the long-term implications of population loss for their country.

At the same time, "they are troubled and concerned about why there is this backlash, this outpouring of hostile feelings toward them," Capps said. "They see it as racist. They see it is a great powerful nation, that we are sort of beating them down instead of recognizing there are ways we could be more beneficial to one another."

One of the Mexican leaders Capps met was a senator from Oaxaca, who said many of the people in her district have family members who have settled in Oxnard, which Capps represents in Congress.

"Here were two of us, women legislators, who share the same population from the same village, that were her constituents and are now residing in our area and are working the grounds because we have a productive agriculture," Capps said.

Mexican officials "want to find them jobs (in Mexico). They want to see economic development for their people so they will stay."