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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2005 
Mexico Wary of Rights Violations on U.S. Border
 AP
| | An unidentified Mexican demonstrator tries to engage Minuteman Project volunteers in conversation over the US/Mexico Border fence in Jacumba, California, 80 miles east of San Diego, October 8, 2005. Hundreds of Minuteman Project volunteers have fanned out across California, Arizona and Texas border areas during October to call attention to problems with illegal immigrants crossing into the US. (Reuters/Fred Greaves) |
Mexico City - Mexico says it will be keeping an eye out for human rights violations after Texas Gov. Rick Perry pledged $9.7 million to step up security along the Mexico-Texas border.
In a statement sent out late Wednesday, Mexico said it understood that the fight against crime and violence along the border must be fought on both sides.
But the statement also called on the United States to allow more legal migration and respect the rights of Mexicans north of the border.
"Without a doubt, the security of both countries, especially along the border, would benefit from the establishment of new mechanisms that would allow legal, secure and ordered migration that respects human rights," the statement said.
Mexico has stepped up security along the Mexican side of the border in the face of a wave of drug violence that has left dozens dead and forced President Vicente Fox to deploy soldiers and federal agents to border cities.
While Mexico has tolerated increased security on the U.S. side - including citizen patrols - it has warned against militarizing the border.
The statement by Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said the Mexican government "takes any threat to its national security or the region of North America with the greatest seriousness" and for that reason has sought to work closely with U.S. authorities on making the border region safer.
Perry announced "Operation Linebacker" on Wednesday, promising to provide the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition plan with $3 million to hire additional deputies, $3 million for overtime pay and $3.7 million for other initiatives from Perry's criminal justice fund.
The plan also would establish four rapid deployment teams, each with 50 state troopers, and permanently assign 54 state criminal investigators on the border to support local law enforcement.
Perry said he has been in talks with governors of Mexico's border states about the plan.
Also Wednesday, the U.S. government said it was dispatching federal agents to Texas to combat crime along the Mexican border.
The Mexican government has not issued an official reaction to that announcement, but the issue is likely to be the focus of a meeting Thursday in San Antonio, Texas, between U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Mexican Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca. |
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