http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/miami/16646.html

Fox official condemns second death
Wire services
El Universal
Miércoles 18 de enero de 2006
Miami Herald, página 1

Mexico on Tuesday condemned the shooting death just north of the U.S. border of another undocumented immigrant, allegedly again by a member of law enforcement, the second such slaying in two weeks.

The government spoke out about the death last weekend in Texas of undocumented Mexican migrant Ismael Segura Méndez.



"We regret and condemn the murder of our countrymen," presidential spokesman Rubén Aguilar told the press.

Aguilar said that the Foreign Relations Secretary is investigating the death of Segura, whose body was repatriated on Monday.

Aguilar also mentioned the Dec. 30 death of Guillermo MartÃÂ*nez, who was shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in southern California shortly after MartÃÂ*nez had crossed the border illegally.

The government of President Vicente Fox does not feel that there is "a state of violence on the border" against undocumented Mexicans, despite the two cases, Aguilar said.

"We assume that they are isolated acts and every death is regrettable and condemnable, (but) we cannot say that there is a state of violence on the border concerning migrants," he said.

According to press reports, the 23-year-old Segura died on Saturday after being shot by a U.S. border guard in Roma, Texas.

Segura, who was working in the United States as an agricultural laborer, originally came from the town of Miguel Alemán in the northern border state of Tamaulipas, the local press said.

Relatives of the victim told radio stations in Tamaulipas that Segura apparently was shot after he ignored an order to halt given him by the guard.

The MartÃÂ*nez and Segura cases have added to the controversy generated by the plan by U.S. lawmakers to build more walls along the 3,200-kilometer (2,000-mile) border and to make illegal immigration a criminal offense.

Mexico has energetically condemned the proposal and insisted on a bilateral agreement "that permits a migratory flow that is legal, ordered and respectful of human rights."

The Mexican government had said Monday that it will seek to mobilize employers, unions, churches and opinion-makers in the United States a bid to block Senate approval of a measure that would significantly tighten controls on immigration.

Officials estimate that more than 10 million Mexicans now live north of the border, roughly half of them without legal authorization.