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    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    Mexico's comparison of border fence to Berlin Wall draws US

    http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascit ... 634378.htm

    Posted on Sun, Jan. 15, 2006

    Mexico's comparison of border fence to Berlin Wall draws U.S. ire

    BY HUGH DELLIOS
    Chicago Tribune

    MEXICO CITY - The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Antonio Garza, issued a blunt retort last week to Mexicans' growing criticism of tougher U.S. border security measures, calling the criticism "excessive, often irresponsible and almost always inaccurate."

    In a five-page New Year's statement summarizing U.S.-Mexican cooperation, Garza rejected critics' comparisons of a proposed border fence extension to the Berlin Wall and dismissed the idea that illegal immigrants have a right to seek employment in other countries.

    "There is no human right to enter another country in violation of its laws," Garza wrote. "Illegal immigration is a threat to our system of laws and an affront to the millions around the world, including in Mexico, who play by the rules in seeking to come to the United States."

    The letter was the first response by U.S. officials in Mexico to a crescendo of attacks on proposed security legislation passed by the U.S. House in December. The legislation would provide $2.2 billion to build 700 more miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, make illegal immigration a felony and enable U.S. soldiers and police to enforce immigration laws.

    President Vicente Fox has called the legislation "shameful" and Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez labeled it "stupid and underhanded." Mexican officials insist it would make the border more dangerous without stopping the determined crossing of immigrants who know that plenty of jobs are waiting for them on the U.S. side.

    The U.S. Senate is scheduled to debate the new legislation in February, along with proposals to create a guest-worker program to allow more immigrant job-seekers to enter the U.S. legally. The House legislation did not include those proposals.

    In his statement, Garza, a former Texas state official and close friend of President Bush, rejected Mexican claims that the proposed security measures reflect a growing anti-immigrant attitude among Americans. He noted that 300 million people cross the U.S.-Mexico border each year at 53 legal crossing points.

    He said last year the United States issued 36,000 immigrant visas, 80,000 work visas and 940,000 visitor visas to Mexicans. By contrast, he said there were 1.2 million arrests of illegal entrants from Mexico.

    "While no one doubts the majority of illegal immigrants from Mexico are simply looking for work or a better way of life, the sheer volume of illegal crossings offers ample opportunities for those who might have other plans," Garza wrote, referring to potential terrorists.

    Garza called comparisons of the border fence to the Berlin Wall "disingenuous and intellectually dishonest" and "personally offensive to me." He noted that while the Berlin Wall was meant to keep communist East Germany's own citizens from leaving, the U.S. border fences are meant to keep illegal immigrants out.

    Garza also deflected accusations that U.S. border measures result in deaths along the border, such as the alleged shooting of a suspected migrant smuggler by a U.S. Border Patrol agent south of San Diego last month.

    "Perhaps a greater effort by other governments to discourage their citizens from illegal crossings would help," Garza wrote, while calling for "more robust efforts" at job creation in Mexico to dissuade the illegal crossers.

    The Mexican government did not immediately respond to Garza's comments, but some critics of U.S. policies did. Author and commentator Carlos Monsivais told the Jornada newspaper that the ambassador's remarks were "offensive and defamatory" and said it was "absurd" to consider Mexican immigrants a threat.

    In another immigrant matter, officials from Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute said a total of about 21,500 immigrants in the United States had registered by Sunday's deadline to vote in July's presidential election. They had estimated that up to 4 million were eligible to register.
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  2. #2
    Senior Member LegalUSCitizen's Avatar
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    QUOTE:
    "There is no human right to enter another country in violation of its laws," Garza wrote. "Illegal immigration is a threat to our system of laws and an affront to the millions around the world, including in Mexico, who play by the rules in seeking to come to the United States."

    I can't believe what I just read.
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