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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2006 
Mexico Seethes Over US-Mexican Border Fence
 Tom Walters - CTV.ca
| | In May, when an estimated million people went on strike in the U.S. to show that the U.S. economy needs the labour provided by the illegal immigrants. |
Mexicans and their government are seething that the U.S. has approved construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border aimed to keep out illegal immigrants.
The U.S. Senate's adoption of a bill on Friday authorizing construction of the 1,220-kilometre fence - and Congress earmarking $1.2 billion as a down payment on the cost - may have ended the debate as far as U.S. Republicans are concerned.
For U.S. lawmakers facing mid-term elections in November, the border fence was irresistible. A clear, simple idea that will appeal to voters preoccupied with security.
"It's about time," agreed truck driver George Parreno, who wants the fence because he thinks the illegal immigrants are undercutting his wages.
"If you don't see the necessity of protecting our borders, you aren't worth a bucket of warm spit, as far as I'm concerned," said Ron Muise, a volunteer border patroller in Texas.
But those south of the border say this is not the act of a good neighbor.
The Mexican government says it's wrong to fortify more 1,100 kilometers of border just to keep illegal immigrants out of the U.S.
Illegal immigration emotional, controversial
And when it comes to immigration - legal or otherwise - it's not just a simple issue of security, especially to a U.S. economy highly dependent on seasonal migrant workers. It's a complicated issue of economics and emotion.
Both were on display in May, when an estimated million people went on strike in the U.S. to show that the U.S. economy needs the labour provided by the illegal immigrants.
"If they kick us out, they're not going to want to start picking strawberries," said one protesting migrant worker.
According to the Foodfirst Institute for Food and Development Policy, more than two million migrant farm workers are employed by the US$28-billion U.S. produce industry, which is 85 per cent cultivated and harvested by hand.
Two thirds of those farm workers are immigrants, and 80 per cent of those immigrants are from Mexico.
The demonstrations have not just drawn attention to the work the illegal immigrants do. They have been a graphic reminder of how many are in the U.S. By conservative estimates, the number of illegal immigrants could be as many as the total populations of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba combined.
The new fence will cover just one third of the 3,200-km border at an estimated cost of $6 billion. It won't even be a physical barrier for its entire length. Some stretches will include only lighting with sensors and cameras.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), called the fence "a bumper sticker solution for a complex problem."
"It's a feel-good plan that will have little effect in the real world," he said. "We all know what this is about. It may be good politics, but it's bad immigration policy. That's not what Americans want."
And critics say no fence can be long enough or secure enough to stand between desperation and opportunity.
An estimated 40 per cent of Mexicans live in poverty and 1,954 of them died trying to get into the U.S. from Mexico between 1998 and 2004. Many of them died of dehydration or exposure during long walks without water or drowning in the Rio Grande River, which separates the two countries for much of the border. |
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