Mexico broke its silence on the United States immigration reform debate this week, declaring that \u201cwalls aren\u2019t the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n
US lawmakers are considering extending the border fence as part of the added security measures that would accompany plans to provide legal status to more than 11 million immigrants, the majority of them Mexican.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Jos\u00e9 Antonio Meade said the legislation would benefit Mexico\u2019s countrymen in the US. But he also warned that the proposed fence extension could impact commerce, and the enormous legal flow of products and people across the border each day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWalls aren\u2019t the solution to the migratory phenomenon, and they aren\u2019t congruent with a modern and secure border,\u201d he told media on Tuesday. \u201cThey don\u2019t contribute to the development of the competitive region that both countries want to encourage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seventy percent of bilateral commerce happens over the border via trucks, and it\u2019s worth $1 million per minute, Mr. Meade said. More than 1 million people cross the US-Mexico border legally every day.<\/p>\n
Mexico has been publicly quiet in recent years on the US debate over immigration reform after former President Vicente Fox’s vocal push for US reform appeared to some to be an overreach. He made specific demands, including wanting to see reform by “year end.” That was in early September 2001, days before the 9\/11 terrorist attacks that would set the country on a new course and see immigration reform fall by the wayside.<\/p>\n