Thread: US needs to watch extremists, Fox says

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0317fox17.html

U.S. needs to watch extremists, Fox says

Chris Hawley
Republic Mexico City Bureau
Mar. 17, 2005 12:00 AM

MEXICO CITY - Anti-immigrant sentiment appears to be growing in the United States, Mexican President Vicente Fox said Wednesday, and he urged U.S. officials to act quickly to control movements such as the 950-member-strong Minuteman Project on the Mexico-Arizona border.

Fox said he plans to push for U.S. immigration reform during a meeting with President Bush in Texas next week. He also said the two leaders, along with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, likely will announce a plan to expand the scope of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Mexico's National Human Rights Commission recently issued a warning about several new grass-roots movements inspired by Arizona's Proposition 200. Other Mexican officials have cited the Minuteman Project, a plan by activists to patrol the border during April, as a sign of rising extremism.


"There are signs of these kinds of problems present today, and (they are) progressing," Fox said during a news conference for foreign reporters. "We have to act quickly and on time to prevent these kinds of actions."

He said Mexico is watching the Minuteman Project carefully and will take action in U.S. courts or international tribunals if any of the activists break the law.


Patrols start in April


"We totally reject the idea of these migrant-hunting groups," Fox said. "We will use the law, international law and even U.S. law to make sure that these types of groups, which are a minority . . . will not have any opportunity to progress."

Organizers of the Minuteman Project say they have signed up more than 950 volunteers, including 30 pilots with aircraft, to patrol the border for 30 days beginning April 1. The activists say they will notify the Border Patrol if they see border crossers and will not confront them directly.

Minuteman co-organizer Chris Simcox said participants are exercising their constitutional rights.

"Vicente Fox can rant and rave all he wants, but he obviously doesn't understand what a democracy means," Simcox said. "We have been working within the law."


'Walls don't work'


Fox also harshly criticized the construction of walls along the border, including a new "triple fence" planned for the San Diego area.

"We are convinced that walls don't work. They should be torn down," he said. "No country that is proud of itself should build walls. No one can isolate himself these days."

Fox said he understood Americans' concern about protecting their southern border. But he dismissed fears that terrorists have sneaked into the United States through Mexico. "We have absolutely no evidence of that," he said.

Fox will meet with Bush and Martin next Wednesday at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and at Bush's ranch in nearby Crawford. It's an effort to get North American cooperation back on track after the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.


Plan on Social Security


Fox said he will push for action on a "guest worker" program in the United States. He said that the U.S. population is aging and will need Mexican labor in the future and that turning millions of undocumented Mexicans into legal, taxpaying workers could help keep the Social Security system afloat.

The three leaders likely will announce a plan aimed at further integrating their countries' economies to compete against other trade blocs, Fox said. He called it a "new vision" that will not change the existing treaty.

It will include new border-security measures, ways to share customs duties, and a continentwide energy policy, he said. Other sections will focus on education, technology and the financial sectors, he said.

NAFTA's critics say the 1994 trade pact has cost American manufacturing jobs while hurting Mexican farmers. But Fox said the average Mexican income has more than doubled, to $6,505 a year.

Fox said the boom of assembly plants along the border has actually helped stop illegal border crossing by providing jobs for people who would have gone to the United States.

"That's also part of security on the border, to have this cushion where people can find a job on the Mexican side," he said.



Reach the reporter at chris.hawley@arizonarepublic.com.

"U.S. needs to watch extremists, Fox says"

We are, real Americans are watching you very closely foxy. We know you are trying to flood us with your 3rd world problems and take.. nay.. steal our sw states.

The theft is not restricted to SW states. Look what those illegal people are doing to North Carolina and its programs to help needy. If those illegal latinos were not here, we could take care of the legal ones in stride. As it is, those people are breaking the programs with their snot nosed kids that they squirt every nine months or so - again at our expense.

All the time under Vincente, the ex Coca Cola salesman's watchful eye with threats and blessings to the illegals as they swarm like ants across our borders.

The military should (moderator edit) stop this breaking and entering like real law enforcement does.

WPL

WPL

Please check your private messages.

W

"We are convinced that walls don't work. They should be torn down," he said. "No country that is proud of itself should build walls. No one can isolate himself these days."

Hey Foxie, if you kept your citizens in Mexico where they belonged
we wouldn't need a fence. Do you think that we need a fence to keep
Americans in?????????

"Pride?"
We are looking for protection.

Originally Posted by dataman

"We are convinced that walls don't work. They should be torn down," he said. "No country that is proud of itself should build walls. No one can isolate himself these days."

Hey Foxie, if you kept your citizens in Mexico where they belonged
we wouldn't need a fence. Do you think that we need a fence to keep
Americans in?????????

"Pride?"
We are looking for protection.

I'll 2nd that. Foxie's greed for OUR states is driving him.

And one more thing......
I am 99.9% fed up with Foxie telling us what to do while he writes
his comic books and encourages his citizens to illegally enter the
United States. The last time I looked Mexico was not exactly a paradise.
What are you doing about that Mr. Fox???????

Why is it that the only member of the "Washington Establishment"
to challenge him is Senator Kyl?

Would really like to see Tom Tancredo make a comment on "WITH MEXICAN FRIENDS LIKE THIS WHO NEEDS ENEMIES"

Originally Posted by Woodpeckerlips

The theft is not restricted to SW states. Look what those illegal people are doing to North Carolina and its programs to help needy. If those illegal latinos were not here, we could take care of the legal ones in stride. As it is, those people are breaking the programs with their snot nosed kids that they squirt every nine months or so - again at our expense.

All the time under Vincente, the ex Coca Cola salesman's watchful eye with threats and blessings to the illegals as they swarm like ants across our borders.

Welcome to ALIPAC, WDL. You sound a bit angry about the situation - I assume you live in NC.

We're all angry about how we see our country being changed before our very eyes with seeming little or no respect for who was here first .. you know .. those of us who were BORN here.

So what is happening in your area? If you have some newspaper stories, feel free to contribute them. William, ALIPAC's founder, is a resident of NC as well as Charlesoakisland and RedGirl1 .. the forum news editor.

They were just posting the other day about the move of the MS 13 gang into parts of NC.

Welcome Woodpeckerlips.
Take a few deep breaths and relax. We share your frustration, but
we need to be careful how we express it. The most important thing
we all can do is help educate the population. We can best accomplish
that by presenting facts and avoiding most of the rhetoric. Make friends,
relatives and coworkers aware of sites such as Alipac. The mainstream media is not doing their job. Almost everything you read in the mainstream press about ILLEGAL immigration is written in a manner sympathetic to ILLEGALS.

I guess we shouldn't be too hard on Mr. Fox. It is a bit of a step down
to be President of Mexico instead of working at Coca Cola.