[Dialogue] US border fence plan 'shameful'

[Harry Wainwright]

Colleagues, neighbors! Peace, Harry 
  _____  


BBC NEWS

US border fence plan 'shameful' 

Mexican President Vicente Fox has described a US proposal to build a fence
along their 3,200 km (2,000 miles) border as "shameful". 

He said the proposal - which Mexican officials have compared to the Berlin
Wall - was a "very bad signal" from a nation of immigrants. 

The US House of Representatives passed an immigration bill last week,
backing the building of a 1,130-km fence. 

About 10m Mexicans are believed to live in the US, some 4m of them
illegally. 

More than a million are arrested every year as they try to enter the US to
seek work. 

The controversial bill - which the US Senate is due to debate in February -
also includes the use of troops and police to halt migrants, and tighter
employment controls. 

"Changing needs" 

Mexico has condemned the proposal saying it is too focused on securing the
border and does not acknowledge the "enormous contribution" that Mexican
workers make to the US economy. 

   When we look at their roots, the immense majority of [Americans] are
migrants 
Mexican President Vicente Fox 

 

Speaking at an event for migrants in his home state of Guanajuato, President
Fox said: "This wall is shameful." 

"It's not possible that in the 21st Century we're building walls between two
nations that are neighbours, between two nations that are brothers." 

"When we look at their roots, the immense majority of [Americans] are
migrants, migrants that have arrived from all over the world," he added. 

The US has already built a wall between San Diego and Tijuana, and now plans
to fence off other parts of the border in California, Arizona, New Mexico
and Texas. 

President George W Bush has said that "border security must adapt to the
nation's changing needs". 

But critics of the US bill say some of the measures would be impossible to
enforce and would push illegal immigrants further underground. 

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4541606.stm

Published: 2005/12/19 11:31:53 GMT

C BBC MMV

 

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