Mexico criticizes plan for border fence

[J Bananas]

MEXICO CITY - Mexico sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. government on Monday saying a plan to build hundreds of miles of fencing on their common border would damage relations.

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President-elect Felipe Calderon urged U.S. officials to reconsider the plan, saying one "could stop more migrants with a kilometer of new roads and development (in Mexico) than with a wall."

In the letter to the U.S. State Department, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said only comprehensive reform could stem the tide of illegal immigrants heading north in search of work.

"The diplomatic note explains that the construction of this barrier will hurt the relations between the two countries and that it is not the solution to strengthen security on the border," the department said.

President Vicente Fox, who leaves office Dec. 1, has spent his six-year term lobbying for a new guest worker program and an amnesty for the millions of Mexicans working illegally in the United States — proposals that have been supported by President Bush.

However, U.S. lawmakers, who face midterm elections in November, have shown a greater appetite for border security measures. On Friday the Senate approved a bill authorizing 700 miles of new fencing in border states.

Fox has called the barrier "shameful" and compared it to the Berlin Wall.

Calderon said Monday that the barrier would not deter migrants from walking across the desert or swimming over the Rio Grande in search of a better life.

"A border that unites two nations allows the free movement of labor but is closed to drugs, guns and criminals," he added. Calderon spoke in Guatemala, where he met with President Oscar Berger on his first international tour since the July presidential election.

On Friday, Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said he would try to persuade Bush not to sign the bill.

"We think it is a gesture that doesn't reflect the friendship between the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean and the United States," Derbez said.

Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon has also criticized the fence plans.

An estimated 11 million Mexican citizens are in the United States, about half of them illegally.

Last year, Mexican migrants sent home more than $20 billion in remittances, the country's second leading source of foreign income after oil. In the first eight months of 2006, remittances rose by nearly 20 percent over the same period last year, according to figures released by the Mexican Central Bank on Monday.


theyre just mad it will be harder for their lazy ass citizens to take advantage of us

[Teddy Roosevelt]

President-elect Felipe Calderon urged U.S. officials to reconsider the plan, saying one "could stop more migrants with a kilometer of new roads and development (in Mexico) than with a wall."

Then Mexico should do that instead of bitching that the US won't let other nations citizens sneak into their country.

[Real American]

President-elect Felipe Calderon urged U.S. officials to reconsider the plan, saying one "could stop more migrants with a kilometer of new roads and development (in Mexico) than with a wall."

Then Mexico should do that instead of bitching that the US won't let other nations citizens sneak into their country.

I hate the Mexican government, they are so corrupt.

Imagine how fucked they would be if Mexico didn't border the US. All those milions of poor people would have nowhere to go for jobs, no hundreds of millions of dollars being sent back to the country by migrants. There would be complete chaos there.

No wonder they don't want a wall along the border.

[virtuoso]

For once I agree with real american on 2 points really the first is that the mexican government are deeply corrupt and secondly that a lot of those coming to the U.S don't actually want to be a part of the U.S, instead want to establish mexico there, so its actually an invasion. However it's all smoke and mirrors firstly they havent approved the funding for the building of the wall it still has to be given the go ahead they have simply passed the motion calling for a fence to be built. Secondly the plan is to build a 700 mile long fence well its some 2000 miles from which they can get into the country so it doesnt actually solve things, secondly I have read that a fence would be easy to simply crawl under once you start digging away. America has no intention of militarising the borders real american, why do you think the minute men are so blatantly villified? they do anything to tarnish and throw dirt at them calling them racists, and white supremacists when a fifth of them are black or hispanic. Google this real american george bush has not militarised the borders you will see that the promise of sending 10,000 or so troops to the border never materialised its bs and spin. No doubt you will either deny this or ignore this but the reality is that you have been neo conned again.

[J Bananas]

yeah i always knew bush was bullshittin about the troops... as a texas businessman he owes it to his peers to let them use illegal spics for cheap labor so he acts soft on immigration and calms down hard working Americans with empty promises

[virtuoso]

Exactly but shhh dont go telling real american that