MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexican Congress criticizes US border fences

Mexican Congress members bitterly criticized Thursday the United States Senate approval of constructing additional border fences to curtail illegal immigration, arguing it would hurt bilateral relations.

Senate President Enrique Jackson, from the main-opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, said the building of more border barriers was a "hostile," "clumsy" and "unjustified" action, very distant from the two countries close bilateral ties.

"It's an attack on Mexicans, a hostile action by the U.S. Congress" he said. "It doesn't help foster neighbourly relations".

Jackson added that President Vicente Fox's administration should come out more firmly in defence of Mexican immigrants' human rights.

For his part, Gerardo Buganza, a senator from the ruling conservative National Action Party, PAN, said the move would generate unnecessary tensions between and added that "this is not the way a friend and partner of the United States should be treated".

Lower house member Juan Jose Garcia, from the leftist PRD said the building of barriers along the border would further endanger the lives of Mexicans who try to cross the frontier in search of work.

The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to build a 370-mile fence along that nation's southern border and to construct 500 miles of vehicle barriers. The Republican-sponsored measure passed by a vote of 83-16.

The Senate immigration bill, however, would help many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to acquire US citizenship.

Whatever legislation eventually is passed by the Senate will have to then be reconciled with a restrictive House of Representatives bill, approved late last year, which also authorized construction of hundreds of miles of additional barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border and would make illegal entry into the country a felony.

With the US mid term November election approaching, the millions of illegal immigrants in the US and the constant inflow has become one of the hot issues of the campaign.