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 Editorials | Issues | October 2006 
'Berlin Wall' for US-Mexico Border
 AFP
Mexico has condemned US President George W Bush for signing into law a Bill that will create a fence, akin to the Berlin Wall, along their common border.
Mr Bush authorised the construction of the fence along the US-Mexico border, shining the spotlight on illegal immigration 12 days ahead of US legislative elections.
At a White House bill-signing ceremony, Mr Bush said the law - which allows for the creation of a 1100km fence along a third of the US border with Mexico - would make the frontier more secure.
Mr Bush called the Bill "an important step toward immigration reform".
"Unfortunately, the United States has not been in complete control of its borders for decades, and therefore illegal immigration has been on the rise," he said.
"We have a responsibility to address these challenges. We have a responsibility to enforce our laws. We have a responsibility to secure our borders. We take this responsibility seriously."
But Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon said in Ottawa after meeting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper that he deplored the move because "the fence doesn't resolve anything".
It would cause more Mexican deaths on the border, he said.
"Humanity committed a grave mistake in building the Berlin Wall. I'm sure that the United States is committing a grave mistake in building this fence," Mr Calderon said, who takes over from President Vincente Fox on December 1.
Mr Fox also attacked Mr Bush, calling the move an "embarrassment for the United States".
"It is proof, perhaps, that the United States does not see immigration as a subject that corresponds to both countries," he said.
Earlier, Mr Fox's spokesman Ruben Aguilar said the fence would do nothing to solve the problem of illegal immigration.
"An integrated immigration reform system that allows for orderly, legal immigration while respecting human rights is the only solution," he said.
He claimed that the decision, ahead of the November 7 US legislative elections, was politically motivated and predicted the barrier would never be completed because of insufficient funding.
Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez was more blunt - the wall was an "insult," he said.
On October 4, Mr Bush had signed a bill earmarking some $US1.2 billion ($A1.57 billion) in funding for the barrier, in a bid to stanch the steady flow of illegal immigrants into the United States.
Mexico had warned it would damage bilateral relations.
The funding approved by Bush fell well short of estimates to build fencing along the porous southern US border.
The fence's cost has been estimated at up to $US6 billion ($A7.9 billion), and Senate Democratic opposition leader Harry Reid put the price tag at some $US8 billion ($A10.5 billion).
According to a poll by Opinion Research Corp, for CNN, 53 per cent of Americans oppose the barrier, while 45 per cent support it.
And 74 per cent of the 1,013 people polled between October 20-23 supported sending more border patrol agents to the region, while 58 per cent called for tougher fines against employers of undocumented workers. |
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