|
Mexico urges Bush to veto U.S. border fence bill
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico pleaded with President Bush on Monday to veto a Senate proposal to build a fence to keep illegal immigrants out, saying it could backfire by making the border less secure. "The Mexican government strongly opposes the building of walls in the border area between Mexico and the United States," President Vicente Fox's spokesman Ruben Aguilar told reporters."This decision hurts bilateral relations, goes against the spirit of cooperation needed to guarantee security on the common border, creates a climate of tension in border communities," he said. Aguilar said Mexico would send a diplomatic note to Washington on Monday urging Bush to veto the bill, which requires the president's signature to become law. "Partial measures focused exclusively on security ignore reality and represent ... a political answer rather than a viable solution to this problem," Aguilar said. Asked about the fence at an international media forum in Mexico City, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon said: "We need to know who's coming across our borders and after years of not paying that much attention to the frontier ... we are now attempting to come to terms with it." "We recognize that how this is perceived outside the United States is not positive but we would ask for patience."
Posted by: Steve White 2006-10-03 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=167544 |