EDITORIAL HAPPY REUNION BUT ... FAMILY'S ORDEAL COMPLICATED BY U.S.-MEXICAN RELATIONSHIP.

FOR four long years, Tom Terranova of Glendale struggled to find his children. He took trips to Mexico, hired private investigators and spent $250,000. And now, at long last, he has his 8-year-old daughter, Jean, and 5-year-old son, Christian, back in his custody.

It's a happy ending to a sad ordeal made sadder by America's dysfunctional relationship with the government of Mexico.

In January 2001, Terranova's ex-wife, Gloria, failed to appear for her court-ordered child-custody exchange. She fled with the kids to Mexico, where she lived with her family. Last Friday, for reasons that are unclear, she finally gave up and dropped the children off just south of the U.S. border, with notes pinned to their clothes. As the kids headed north, she quickly ran back south.

But had she not had a change of heart, Terranova might never have seen his children again.

Even though Mexico shares an enormous border with the United States, it's not very helpful when it comes to apprehending criminals who enter from the United States. Mexico's extradition laws preclude the country even from sending cop killers back to face American justice.

Although immigration is the largest unresolved issue that divides the United States and Mexico, clearly the issue of international crime-fighting is one that must also be addressed.

The Mexican government often presses demands that its citizens living in the United States - often illegally - be treated well. Surely it ought to reciprocate by refusing to be a haven for those who have broken American laws.