Posted on 03/20/2005 8:13:49 AM PST by hophead
MEXICO CITY - Anti-immigrant sentiment appears to be growing in the United States, Mexican President Vicente Fox said Wednesday, and he urged U.S. officials to act quickly to control movements such as the 950-member-strong Minuteman Project on the Mexico-Arizona border.
Fox said he plans to push for U.S. immigration reform during a meeting with President Bush in Texas next week. He also said the two leaders, along with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, likely will announce a plan to expand the scope of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Mexico's National Human Rights Commission recently issued a warning about several new grass-roots movements inspired by Arizona's Proposition 200. Other Mexican officials have cited the Minuteman Project, a plan by activists to patrol the border during April, as a sign of rising extremism. advertisement
"There are signs of these kinds of problems present today, and (they are) progressing," Fox said during a news conference for foreign reporters. "We have to act quickly and on time to prevent these kinds of actions."
He said Mexico is watching the Minuteman Project carefully and will take action in U.S. courts or international tribunals if any of the activists break the law.
Patrols start in April
"We totally reject the idea of these migrant-hunting groups," Fox said. "We will use the law, international law and even U.S. law to make sure that these types of groups, which are a minority . . . will not have any opportunity to progress."
Organizers of the Minuteman Project say they have signed up more than 950 volunteers, including 30 pilots with aircraft, to patrol the border for 30 days beginning April 1. The activists say they will notify the Border Patrol if they see border crossers and will not confront them directly.
Minuteman co-organizer Chris Simcox said participants are exercising their constitutional rights.
"Vicente Fox can rant and rave all he wants, but he obviously doesn't understand what a democracy means," Simcox said. "We have been working within the law."
'Walls don't work'
Fox also harshly criticized the construction of walls along the border, including a new "triple fence" planned for the San Diego area.
"We are convinced that walls don't work. They should be torn down," he said. "No country that is proud of itself should build walls. No one can isolate himself these days."
Fox said he understood Americans' concern about protecting their southern border. But he dismissed fears that terrorists have sneaked into the United States through Mexico. "We have absolutely no evidence of that," he said.
Fox will meet with Bush and Martin next Wednesday at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and at Bush's ranch in nearby Crawford. It's an effort to get North American cooperation back on track after the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Plan on Social Security
Fox said he will push for action on a "guest worker" program in the United States. He said that the U.S. population is aging and will need Mexican labor in the future and that turning millions of undocumented Mexicans into legal, taxpaying workers could help keep the Social Security system afloat.
The three leaders likely will announce a plan aimed at further integrating their countries' economies to compete against other trade blocs, Fox said. He called it a "new vision" that will not change the existing treaty.
It will include new border-security measures, ways to share customs duties, and a continentwide energy policy, he said. Other sections will focus on education, technology and the financial sectors, he said.
NAFTA's critics say the 1994 trade pact has cost American manufacturing jobs while hurting Mexican farmers. But Fox said the average Mexican income has more than doubled, to $6,505 a year.
Fox said the boom of assembly plants along the border has actually helped stop illegal border crossing by providing jobs for people who would have gone to the United States.
"That's also part of security on the border, to have this cushion where people can find a job on the Mexican side," he said.
Reach the reporter at chris.hawley@arizonarepublic.com.
He said Mexico is watching the Minuteman Project carefully and will take action in U.S. courts or international tribunals if any of the activists break the law."
I see he is more concerned with the "Minutmen" than he is with the polititians who have sworn to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the land. He has huge mexican nads to suggest that Americans cannot assist in the emforcment of our laws. I'm not sure if Bush and the other oath of office breakers are on Fox's side or the citizens side.
Yeah, and the first extremist on the list - Fox.
---Anti-immigrant sentiment appears to be growing in the United States, Mexican President Vicente Fox said Wednesday, and he urged U.S. officials to act quickly to control movements---
in other words 'HOW DARE YOU TRY AND CONTROL THE EMIGRATION of my country's wretched and violent criminals'!
""U.S. needs to watch extremists", Vicente Fox says."
And here I thought that old Vincente may be warning about extremists crossing the border from Mexico. No such luck. Vincente is a worthless leach.
You bet! Where does he get off dictating to the US?
"Mexico needs to watch its borders for lawbreakers entering illegally into the US," Rintense says.
But he doesn't give a rat's behind if illegal immigrants break the law.
Fox needs to mind his own business.
This guy's audacity is stunning. He's basically indignant that US citizens are trying to stop a giant, ongoing Mexican invasion force. It's like a robber being indignant that his victim is trying to fight back.
Anti-immigrant sentiment appears to be growing in the United States, Mexican President Vicente Fox said Wednesday
No kidding genius.
The bottom line is that Fox's interpretation of the word "illegal" is not the same as ours.
Our laws mean nothing to him.
Agreed. I am for legal immigration for those who arrive in this country legally and go through our system.
Doesn't Mexico throw illegal Honduras citizens should they sneak into Mexico? Me thinks Fox should practice what he preaches!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.