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WASHINGTON — The foreign ministers of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica slammed plans by the United States to build hundreds of miles (kilometers) of triple-layered fence on its southern border.

In a joint news conference in Mexico City late Thursday, the five ministers said that building barriers is not the way to solve problems between neighboring 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 U.S. Senate approved a proposal to build 370 miles (595 kilometers) of triple-layer fencing along parts of the 2,000-mile (3200-kilometer) border separating the U.S. and Mexico.

In the same session, the Senate agreed to give many illegal immigrants a shot at U.S. citizenship.

Guatemalan Foreign Minister Jorge Briz said that a major immigration reform in the United States is the only way to stop the human wave 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," Briz said.

Earlier Thursday, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. State Department outlining the nation's concerns about the proposed barrier.

Honduran Foreign Minister Milton Jimenez said that he expected the five nations and other countries in South America and the Caribbean to issue a joint declaration on the matter soon.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved plans to build hundreds more miles of fencing in December, sparking a wave of criticism from Latin American leaders, with Mexican President Vicente Fox comparing such a barrier to the Berlin Wall.

On Thursday, Fox reiterated his criticisms.

"Building walls, constructing barriers on the border does not offer an efficient solution in a relationship of friends, neighbors and partners," 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."