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Rising vigilantism assailed by Fox on eve of trade talks
By S. Lynne Walker
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
March 17, 2005

MEXICO CITY – Trade will top the agenda when the leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico meet next week in Texas, Mexican President Vicente Fox said yesterday.

To stop the flow of jobs to China and other countries with lower labor costs, the leaders hope to sign an agreement that will "meet the competitive challenge of other economic blocs throughout the world," Fox said.

The agreement, in draft form, would not modify the decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement, Fox said. Instead, it would enhance the free-trade pact by signing an accord on border security, energy and tariffs.

As President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin prepare to meet with Fox on Wednesday, the Mexican president told U.S. and Canadian journalists that NAFTA "has worked and worked very well."

Mexico's economy doubled in size between 1995 and 2004 and per capita income rose from $3,100 to $6,505, he said.

He said the country's unemployment rate had dropped, adding that maquiladoras in "practically all the border cities are at full employment."

But Fox insisted a new U.S. immigration policy is necessary to ensure a "legal, orderly, dignified flow" of workers across the border.

He also called on the United States to stem the anti-immigrant sentiment fueled by vigilante groups, particularly in border states like Arizona.

A group of volunteers calling themselves the MinuteMan Project have vowed to stop and search undocumented migrants crossing along a stretch of Arizona border throughout April. Some 950 people from 50 states have signed up for the project.

Fox said his government raised concerns about the group with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she visited Mexico City last week.

"We must react quickly and on time to prevent this kind of action," he said. He said Mexico "will use the law, international law and even U.S. law" in an effort to put the brakes on the group.

He acknowledged that monitoring the people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border is of critical importance to all of the countries in the Americas.

"Security against terrorism is also a high priority for our country," he said. "If that has costs, we will pay those costs, because the goal is clear. It is to eradicate and end terrorism wherever it is found."

But building walls is not the solution, Fox said. "No country that is proud of itself should build walls," he said. "Nobody can isolate themselves today."

Instead, Fox said U.S. states should recognize the contribution Mexican immigrants make to the economy.

"California could not have the competitiveness, the quality, the agricultural production that is has . . . if it were not for the Mexican migrants," he said.


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