Latest local news, weather, high school sports in the Rio Grande Valley

Mexican President Felipe Calderon asked the Congress to consider reinstating laws banning the sale of assault rifles in the United States.

Calderon made the request during an almost hour-long address in English to the United States Congress on Thursday morning.

Thousands have been killed in the past four years in Mexico's ongoing drug war.

The violence arrived in full force to Reynosa, Miguel Aleman, Ciudad Mier and other border cities across from the Rio Grande Valley in February.

The Mexican president said Mexico remains committed to prosecuting drug traffickers but needs help from the United States.

Calderon said the violence increased shortly after the United States lifted laws regulating the sale of assault rifles.

The Mexican president said the United States does not properly regulate the sale of assault rifles and that the high-powered weapons have ended up in the hands of the drug cartels via the black market.

Calderon asked Congress to consider going back to regulating the sale of assault rifles.

The Mexican president also spoke about immigration saying that Mexico is modernizing and working to provide jobs, education and opportunities at home.

But Calderon said he is opposed to Arizona's Senate Bill 1070 saying it institutes racial profiling.

"We must find a better way to fix the problem," he said in English.

Calderon made the address to Congress as part of a two-day visit to Washington DC.