Mexico has broken its silence on the debate over immigration reform taking place in the United States, saying that “Walls aren’t the solution.” Lawmakers in the US are contemplating extending the border fence as one of the additional security measures that accompanies plans to offer legal status to over 11 million undocumented immigrants, the great majority of whom come from Mexico.
Foreign Minister José Antonio Meade admits that the legislation could benefit Mexican immigrants in the United States but has warned that the fence extension that has been proposed could also have an impact on commerce as well as the massive legal flow of people and products that go across the border every day of the week.
“Walls aren’t the solution to the migratory problem and they aren’t congruent with a modern and secure border,” Meade says. “They don’t contribute to the development of the competitive region that both countries want to encourage.” Seventy percent of bilateral commerce takes place over the border with the use of trucks, and Meade says it is worth approximately $1 million per minute. Over one million people legally cross the US-Mexico border every day.
Mexico has recently been very publicly quiet on the debate over immigration reform in the United States after the vocal push by former President Vicente Fox was judged to be something of an overreach, but Meade claims that the country has had a “sustained dialogue” with everybody involved since the bill began to be crafted by lawmakers.