http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascit ... 153054.htm

WARNING!! ... reading will cause your blood pressure to skyrocket .. 'ol sly Fox is making his arrogant comments again!

Mexico committed to border security, Fox says
BY HUGH DELLIOS
Chicago Tribune

MEXICO CITY - (KRT) - Looking ahead to a U.S.-Mexico-Canada summit next week on President Bush's Texas ranch, President Vicente Fox dismissed worries about Mexico's commitment to border security Wednesday and said it is a bad time for nations to be thinking about walling off their borders.

Fox said that the main goal of the March 23 summit is for him, President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin to sign an extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement that would further integrate the region and make it more competitive economically.

In a meeting with journalists from the United States and Canada, Fox said he and Bush would discuss their joint desire for reforms to U.S. immigration law that would make it easier for Mexican workers to enter the country. But he said he realized that securing the porous 2,000-mile border was crucial.

"The theme of security against terrorism is also a high priority for our country," Fox said. "If that has costs, we will pay those costs, because the goal is clear ... It's to eradicate and end terrorism wherever it is found."

The summit comes at a time of often-expressed concerns about terrorists using Mexican territory to enter the United States but also a time when many are trying to figure out ways to expedite the flow of people and goods across the border.

While Bush has said he wants to adopt an expanded Mexican guest worker program, many U.S. members of Congress are far more concerned about safety. This week, the U.S. House sent a bill to the Senate that would restrict some immigrant rights, and lawmakers expressed displeasure in recent hearings that the Bush administration was not spending more on border patrols.

U.S. officials also are concerned about increased drug-war violence on the Mexican border and the movements of Central American gangs across the region.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a visit to Mexico last week, was the latest administration official to raise the specter of terrorists traversing Mexico. At the same time, she said Bush was committed to immigration reforms that recognize "economic realities" while respecting U.S. law and said the two countries had made progress in their joint border security efforts.

"The terrorists are ... going to keep trying in our southern border. They're going to keep trying in our northern border," Rice said. "And (the aim) is just the acknowledgement that we need to make certain that we keep working on this issue."

Fox said Wednesday that there is no evidence of terrorists crossing into the United States from Mexico, although he said his government remains vigilant. He said those concerns should not stand in the way of the two countries integrating and he criticized the idea of putting up walls like one recently approved by the U.S. House of Representatives for the border near San Diego.

"We are convinced that walls don't work. You have to tear them down," Fox said. "No country that is proud of itself should build walls. Nobody can isolate themselves today."

The president said he believed a majority of Americans recognized the valuable contribution of Mexican workers in the U.S. economy, "in contrast to those minority, xenophobic groups that want to manage this situation in another way."

Specifically, he condemned groups in Arizona that have announced they will begin patrolling the Mexican border to prevent the entry of illegal immigrants. Calling themselves the Minuteman Project, the members have not made clear whether they intend to carry weapons.

"We totally reject these `immigrant hunter' groups," Fox said.

Fox gave few details about the agreement to be signed next week, called the North American Initiative. He said it would include provisions to redefine and increase joint security efforts, define a North American energy policy and promote customs measures such as "shared import tariffs."

He said the new agreement would not alter the original NAFTA accord, which he described as a huge success for Mexico.