Fox is concerned over these "minutemen":
Quote:
|
Anti-immigrant sentiment appears to be growing in the US, Mexican President Vicente Fox said Wednesday, and he urged US officials to act quickly to control movements such as the 950-member-strong Minuteman Project on the Mexico-Arizona border. Mexico's National Human Rights Commission recently issued a warning about several new grass-roots movements inspired by Arizona's Proposition 200. Other Mexican officials have cited the Minuteman Project, a plan by activists to patrol the border during April, as a sign of rising extremism.
|
Could Mexican "guest-workers" be used to save Social Security in the US?
Quote:
|
Fox said he plans to push for US immigration reform during a meeting with President Bush in Texas next week. He also said the two leaders, along with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, likely will announce a plan to expand the scope of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Fox said he will push for action on a "guest worker" program in the US. He said that the US population is aging and will need Mexican labor in the future and that turning millions of undocumented Mexicans into legal, taxpaying workers could help keep the Social Security system afloat.
|
Enhancing NAFTA?
Quote:
|
The three leaders likely will announce a plan aimed at further integrating their countries' economies to compete against other trade blocs, Fox said. He called it a "new vision" that will not change the existing treaty. It will include new border-security measures, ways to share customs duties, and a continentwide energy policy, he said. Other sections will focus on education, technology and the financial sectors, he said.
|
NAFTA and Maquiladoras do help reduce the flows:
Quote:
|
NAFTA's critics say the 1994 trade pact has cost American manufacturing jobs while hurting Mexican farmers. But Fox said the average Mexican income has more than doubled, to $6,505 a year. Fox said the boom of assembly plants along the border has actually helped stop illegal border crossing by providing jobs for people who would have gone to the US. "That's also part of security on the border, to have this cushion where people can find a job on the Mexican side," he said. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0317fox17.html |