Mexico Says It Will Protest New U.S. Immigration Laws By Traci Carl Associated Press Writer
Published: May 12, 2005
MEXICO CITY (AP) - President Vicente Fox said Thursday his government will formally protest recent U.S. immigration reforms, including the decision to extend walls along the border and make it harder for illegal migrants to get driver's licenses.
Fox didn't give details of Mexico's plan, but officials in his administration have raised the possibility of taking the case to the United Nations or other international organizations.
"We think it is useless to pursue walls, barriers, the use of force and violence," he said.
The new provisions require states to verify that people who apply for a driver's license are in the country legally. They also make it harder for migrants to gain amnesty, and easier to override environmental laws to build a barrier along the Mexican border in California.
They were signed by U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday, and threaten to unravel recently patched relations between the United States and Mexico.
Bush and Fox began their administrations as close friends, but soon parted ways over the U.S.-led initiative in Iraq and the United States' failure to take up a migration accord that would have let more migrants cross legally into the United States.
Relations improved after Bush introduced a scaled-back migration plan that would have allowed Mexicans with U.S. job offers to work temporarily in the United States. But the proposal has stalled.
Fox said his job now was to "redouble efforts" in achieving a migration accord and "present corresponding complaints when human rights are violated."
"I think it is much more constructive the work that we have pending, and that we hope to finalize this year," he said.
He also said Mexico would fight the new initiatives by presenting "a formal and firm complaint against the option that has nothing to do with the harmonious development of relations between the United States and Mexico."
U.S. lawmakers argued the bill was necessary to protect the United States from terrorists.