Santa Fe, N.M. ? With just three words – “state of emergency” – border state Govs. Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Janet Napolitano of Arizona injected urgency into a simmering national debate over illegal immigration.

First Richardson, then Napolitano, declared a state of emergency this month in portions of their states along the border with Mexico. In doing so, they freed state money for local governments and law enforcement to cope with what they describe as increasing border crime and problems related to illegal immigration.

Politically and symbolically, the Democratic governors may have achieved much more.

“The fact that two governors out of the four on the border have issued emergency declarations should be a wake-up call for the Congress to pursue serious immigration reform,” said Richardson, who is considered a possible presidential candidate in 2008.