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Mexico vows to fight migrant patrol project in US
 | Smooth move, Vicente, unite us against you. |
MEXICO CITY - Mexico will pursue legal action against plans by a US citizens' group to patrol the US-Mexican border in search of illegal immigrants, the country's foreign minister said on Monday. Luis Ernesto Derbez said he asked lawyers in Los Angeles to draw up a legal strategy to fight the Arizona-based initiative called "the MinuteMan Project" that has signed up hundreds of volunteers for border patrols. "We are going to attack by all legal means," Derbez told a news conference. "We are presenting the reasons why we consider this action to be incorrect and illegal from the point of view not only of our government but also under US law." | Our citizens have a right to peaceful assembly, even if it's forty miles out in the middle of an Arizona desert. We also have the right -- and obligation -- to assist law enforcement. |
Derbez said he would discuss the issue with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she visits Mexico on March 10. Volunteers from at least 29 states plan to camp out in April on ranches and public land to spot and report illegal immigrants to the US Border Patrol. | The weak link is the Border Patrol -- overworked, undermanned, underfunded and too hide-bound in its ways. |
Migration is a prickly issue for Mexico, where the government is growing skeptical US President George W. Bush will be able to deliver on his promise of a new migration accord to enable legal, safe and orderly migration. | A lawsuit won't make it any easier. |
Posted by: Steve White 2005-03-01 |
