Bush goes on patrol as Central America condemns US wall plan

MEXICO and four Central American nations have condemned a US plan to build hundreds of miles of triple-layered fencing on its southern border, saying it would not stop illegal immigration.

In a joint news conference in Mexico City early yesterday, the foreign ministers of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Mexico said that building barriers was not the way to solve problems between neighbouring nations.

“The position of Mexico and the other countries is that walls will not make a difference in terms of the solution to the migration problem,” said Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez.

On Wednesday, the US Senate approved a proposal to build 370 miles of triple-layer fencing along parts of the 2,000-mile border separating the US and Mexico. The Senate also agreed to give many illegal immigrants a shot at US citizenship.

Guatemalan Foreign Minister Jorge Briz said major immigration reform in the United States was the only way to stop the wave of people heading northward.

“All of us are looking for a comprehensive migratory regulation so that millions of Latin Americans can continue working in and supporting the United States economy,” Mr Briz said.

On Thursday, Mexico’s foreign relations department sent a note to the US State Department outlining the nation’s concerns about the proposed barrier.

Honduran Foreign Minister Milton Jimenez said he expected several South American and Caribbean countries to join Mexico and the Central Americans in issuing a joint declaration on the matter soon.

In December, the US House of Representatives approved a bill to build a fence about twice as long as the one approved by the Senate. The plan sparked a wave of criticism from Latin American leaders, with Mexican President Vicente Fox comparing such a barrier to the Berlin Wall.

Mr Fox reiterated his criticisms on Thursday.

“Building walls, constructing barriers on the border does not offer an efficient solution in a relationship of friends, neighbours and partners,” Mr Fox said in the border city of Tijuana. “We will go on defending the rights of our countrymen without rest or respite. With passion we will demand the full respect of their human rights.”

On the border with Arizona, bedraggled migrants who had been turned back by the border patrol said that more fences would not keep them from crossing but only make smugglers charge more money for the trip.

“I had to leave my three children, walk for three days in the desert, and now I’m here with more debts than ever,” said Edith Martinez, a 40-year-old from Oaxaca who walked back over the border bridge to the Mexican town of Nogales. “Now I have to work in the United States to pay my debts from the trip.”