Mexico protests military and new walls on border
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Since 05-19-06

Reuters

May 18, 2006

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1977232

MEXICO CITY - Mexico will complain to the U.S. government about plans to build security fences and deploy National Guard troops along the border to curb illegal immigration, the foreign minister said on Thursday.

Mexico has pushed for sweeping immigration reforms to help millions of Mexicans work legally in the United States but it fears Washington is more interested in keeping them out.

Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez said Mexico would send a note protesting the plans to build new walls and send the National Guard to the 2,000-mile (3,200-km) border that hundreds of thousands of Mexicans sneak across every year in search of jobs.

"There are 12 million Mexicans on the other side, 12 million people who live every day in anguish about the need for a reform to let them live peacefully," Derbez said.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would see 370 miles of new fences built at strategic points along the border.

Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives have also passed a bill to vastly extend existing border fences, making it likely new barriers of some kind will be part a final compromise deal with the Senate.

President George W. Bush was traveling to the border town of Yuma, Arizona, on Thursday to press his case for tougher border controls combined with reforms that would give millions of immigrants a chance to become U.S. citizens.

He said earlier this week said he would deploy up to 6,000 National Guard troops along the Mexico border.

Supporters of tougher U.S. immigration measures argue illegal immigrants are criminals and take jobs from legal residents.

But many business groups say the United States needs foreign workers who are willing to work in jobs that Americans do not want, and Hispanic groups are flexing their political muscle to demand legalization.

Some U.S. lawmakers expect stronger border walls to help stem the flow of drugs from Mexico, which increasingly violent smuggling gangs use as the main entry point into the United States.

Emigration to the United States is a useful social safety valve for Mexico, allowing the poor to escape in search of a better life. They sent around $20 billion in cash transfers to their families at home last year, the country's second biggest source of foreign currency after oil exports.