Via BostonHerald.com
10/06/2006

     Mexico lobbied for six years for a comprehensive immigration reform that would allow millions to cross into the United States legally. Instead, they’re getting a fence.

     Mexicans - from leading politicians to migrants preparing to cross illegally - consider the U.S. plan to fence off much of the border shameful, offensive and ill-conceived.

     President Bush on Wednesday signed a bill that would allot $1.2 billion for hundreds of miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border and for more vehicle barriers, lighting and infrared cameras.

   But migrants resting at a Tijuana shelter after being deported from the United States said more walls wouldn’t deter them. Alfonso Martinez, a 32-year-old from southern Mexico, had been working as a farmhand for six months in Vista, Calif., when he was arrested and deported last week.
     “Wall or no wall, I will try at least three times,” said Martinez, who said he would try to cross by himself through Tecate, a mountainous town about 35 miles east of Tijuana. “I have three girls that I have to support, and in Mexico there is no work.”
     Mexican immigrants in the United States and the Mexican government had lobbied lawmakers for more ways to cross the border and work legally.
     While Bush had proposed a temporary worker program, it didn’t garner enough support in Congress for passage. The idea has been dropped by Washington, at least until after the November congressional elections.
     Congress focused on security over immigration, arguing that the porous border could be used by terrorists who want to sneak into the U.S. undetected. There is no evidence that has happened, however.
     The Mexican government this week sent a diplomatic note to Washington criticizing the plan for 700 miles of new fencing along the border. Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez called it an “offense” and said his office was considering taking the issue to the United Nations.

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