MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexico condemns the “shameful” border wall with US

Mexican president Vicente Fox called the wall United States is planning to build along the common border “shameful” and a decision “with no vision of future”.

Hours after President George W Bush signed into law the plan for 1,125 kilometers of new fencing along the US-Mexico border, to curb illegal immigration, Fox underlined that "this is totally contrary to a country that considers itself open, and which has fought to bring down walls such as the Berlin Wall".

Fox added that this "is evidence of United States incapacity to address the issue of migration as a co-responsible issue, an issue which belongs to both countries".

"There's no way United States can explain or argue its success and the fact it's the world's leading economic power if it had not been for the migratory waves since the foundation of the nation", said Fox.

About 10 million Mexicans are thought to live in the US, some four million of them illegally. An estimated 1.2 million illegal immigrants were arrested last year trying to cross into the US via the border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

In signing the Secure Fence Act 2006 into law, President Bush said that his government would tackle illegal immigration by means of increased funding and numbers of immigration officials. He said that remote cameras, satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles would also be used to create a "21st-century" border with Mexico.

"We're modernizing the southern border of the United States so we can assure the American people we are doing our job of securing our border," he said. "Ours is a nation of immigrants. But we're also a nation of law", he emphasized.

Earlier in the day Mexico's Foreign Affairs ministry "strongly rejected" the decision and regretted that the migratory debate with United States has become an imposed unilateral focus, which considers "exclusively security measures".

"What is needed for a better bilateral administration of the migratory question is an approach with new mechanisms that allow for a legal, safe, orderly, dignified and respectful of human rights".

According to the Mexican government the "Wall bill" affects and "harms the overall bilateral relation" and is contrary to the cooperation spirit that should prevail to guarantee security in the common border plus "promoting a climate of tension in the border communities".

Across the political divide, Mexican politicians have come together to condemn what they see as an unnecessary and offensive barrier accusing United States of hypocrisy for enjoying the benefits of cheap Mexican labor but not being prepared to offer Mexican people a chance to cross the border legally.

Illegal migration has become one of the topics of the coming mid-term elections in United States which don't look too encouraging for the Bush administration. Republicans fear they might loose the majority in Congress.