In Portland,Vicente Fox criticizes U.S. policy on Mexico...

In Portland, Fox criticizes U.S. policy on Mexico


Former president addresses border crossings, wall


By Thelma Guerrero Huston
The Statesman Journal (Salem, OR), March 20, 2008

Portland, OR -- Much of the U.S. public and some of the country's leaders do not fully comprehend the importance of Mexican immigrants to the U.S. economy and are confusing those immigrants with terrorists, former Mexico President Vicente Fox said.

Furthermore, the Bush administration did not use common sense when it made a decision to build a fence along parts of the U.S.-Mexico border, Fox said.

'President Reagan went to Berlin and told (Mikhail) Gorbachev to tear down the (Berlin) Wall, and now the U.S. is building a wall on our border,' Fox said. 'It's incredible; it's a mistake; and it's a big waste of money.'

Fox made the comments during a news conference Wednesday at the Heathman Hotel. The former president was in Portland as part of the World Affairs Council of Oregon's 2008 International Speakers series. He was the first of four esteemed international leaders scheduled to speak during the series.

Border security and immigration were two of several issues Fox addressed. Both have become a front line in U.S. politics and a key battleground in the 2008 race for the White House.

'I am not for open borders,' Fox said. 'I am for managing the issue of migration, but I am not for building a wall.'

In 2006, Congress approved legislation calling for 670 miles of fencing along the border with Mexico to slow illegal immigration. The $20 million virtual fence already covers 28 miles of the border between Arizona and Mexico.

Last month, however, plans for the remaining miles of fence were halted after investigators with the Government Accountability Office said some unexpected problems had arisen that would require a redesign. Those problems involved inappropriate computer software by a contractor.

Fox also spoke about free trade, saying the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, has created millions of jobs in Mexico and drawn billions of dollars in investments to that nation, making its trade balance the seventh largest in the world and larger than all of the Latin-American nations combined.

Last year, Oregon's exports to Mexico under NAFTA totaled $3.7 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Trade and Industry Information. Much of that involved transportation equipment, computers and electronic products, wood and paper products, and crops.

Critics of the free-trade agreement, which includes the U.S., Canada and Mexico, have said that it takes away job opportunities from Americans.

Fox admits that some changes are needed, but says he would like to see it expanded to more countries.

The former president also commented briefly on a bill passed last month by the Oregon Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Ted Kulongoski, which calls for proof of legal presence to obtain an Oregon driver's license.

More than 350 immigration-related proposals were unveiled in the first two months of this year in states across the nation, including Oregon, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

'What some people don't understand is that Mexican immigrants make it possible for the U.S. to compete in the global market,' Fox said. 'If they can't get to work, who is going to do their work, build the roads, the houses, pick the crops? I call on all U.S. governors to use common sense when addressing these type of issues.'

He blamed passage of such legislation on the failure by President Bush and Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. He also placed some of the blame on what he called fear-mongers and xenophobes, and on some cable news demagogues who he said demonize illegal immigrants, creating an environment of fear and hate toward the undocumented.

Fox also touched on the current Mexican administration of President Felipe Calderón. He praised Calderón for creating more than one million new jobs in the country and funding scholarships for one million students to attend college, saying that would be one million fewer Mexican citizens that would come to the U.S.

He also spoke about the Calderón administration's ongoing efforts to combat organized crime and drugs.

'This must be a shared responsibility between Mexico and the United States, since the U.S. is the largest drug market for Latin-American cartels,' Fox said.



http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic
le?AID=/20080320/NEWS/803200343/1001