He also urged lawmakers to restore a ban on assault weapons, saying easy access to high-powered weapons is contributing to drug-related violence.

Calderon, the first foreign national leader to address Congress this year, also criticized a new law in border state Arizona that requires police to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are in the US illegally.

“It is a law that not only ignores a reality that cannot be erased by decree but also introduced a terrible idea using racial profiling,” he said to cheers, mainly from the Democratic side of the chamber.

Arizona’s two Republican senators, John McCain and Jon Kyl, did not appear to be present at the joint meeting.

McCain attended a lunch with Calderon at the State Department on Wednesday.

Calderon also took up the Arizona law in a meeting Wednesday with President Barack Obama, who referred to the law as a “misdirected expression of frustration.” The Mexican leader said his country was doing its best, by promoting more jobs and opportunities at home, to reduce the flow of immigrants to the United States.

But he stressed the “need to fix a broken and inefficient system... the time has come to reduce the causes of migration and to turn this into a legal, orderly and secure flow of workers and visitors.” Obama is pressing lawmakers to take up legislation that would deal with border security, employment and citizenship. It is questionable whether Congress, in an election year, has the fortitude to tackle such a highly sensitive issue.

Calderon also got a standing ovation from Democrats when he asked the United States to stop the flow of assault weapons and other arms across the border and reinstate the ban on many assault weapons that was enacted in 1994 but allowed to expire during the George W. Bush presidency.

He said there are more than 7,000 gun shops along the border where almost anyone can purchase weapons.

Calderon led off his 40-minute speech by emphasizing Mexico’s war against narcotics traffickers that has left roughly 23,000 dead since the end of 2006.

But he added that “we cannot ignore the fact that the challenge to our security has roots on both sides of the border.” At the end of the day, it is high demand for drugs in the United States and elsewhere that drives much of the illicit trade.”