Mexican Warns U.S. on Border Confrontations

Amid signs of escalating tensions along the U.S.-Mexico border, Mexican Foreign Secretary Fernando Solana Morales has cautioned Washington against imposing “unilateral” police actions that promote “confrontation (and) frustration” in both nations, harming international relations without resolving the migratory dilemma.

“Lamentably, we are watching the flaring up of ill will in the United States against Mexican immigration,” Solana stated at a seminar on migration over the weekend. “The situation threatens to create tension . . . beyond control of the (two) states.”

The secretary’s strongly worded comments are the most forceful to come from government circles here about what is widely viewed as an orchestrated effort in the United States to blame Mexican immigrants for some U.S. problems, including a faltering economy (especially in California), ever-rising crime and a general deterioration in living standards north of the border.

While Solana has previously assailed Gov. Pete Wilson’s harsh suggestions to reduce illegal immigration, the secretary is now criticizing the broader U.S. attitude toward the problem.

Aggravating matters is the U.S. Border Patrol’s 3-week-old Operation Blockade, designed to decrease illicit crossings along the Rio Grande between the facing frontier cities of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Tex.

The operation--denounced in a Mexican diplomatic note dispatched last week to the State Department--has triggered outrage in Mexico, where many have viewed it as an affront to their national dignity. Some have called for an economic boycott of El Paso, which, like other border communities, depends heavily on cross-border shoppers.

There are widespread fears here that the blockade could spread to San Diego and other border areas, increasing abuses against immigrants and fanning anti-Mexican sentiment. Also causing considerable distress are suggestions by U.S. lawmakers, including Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), to deploy National Guard troops along the increasingly militarized border in an effort to halt incursions.

“Attempting to curb and revert the migratory flows through adoption of unilateral measures . . . will lead to confrontation (and) frustration,” Solana stated. “That is to ignore the economic interdependence of border communities and natural interchanges of every kind that occur between the United States and Mexico.”

While not disputing Washington’s right to tighten enforcement along the notoriously porous southwestern border, Solana called on Mexican and U.S. authorities to work together to seek bilateral solutions. Such an initiative, he said, would be based on recognizing the reality of a labor surplus in Mexico and the continued demand for Mexican workers in the north.

Yet past suggestions of increased binational cooperation have failed to reach fruition. There is no reason to think Solana’s suggestions will meet a different fate, analysts say.

“The United States doesn’t appear to accept that the migration of Mexican labor is a fundamental factor in the enrichment of many states,” Solana noted.

The rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric in the United States comes at a particularly sensitive moment, when the North American Free Trade Agreement--keystone of Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari’s economic program--is facing an uncertain future before Congress.

“How will these hard-line and aggressive border politics, frankly anti-Mexican . . . complement the difficulties faced by the (treaty)?” the daily newspaper La Jornada asked in an editorial following Solana’s pronouncements.

The North American pact, which would gradually reduce tariffs and other trade barriers dividing the United States, Mexico and Canada, does not specifically address the issue of immigration. And, unlike the European Community’s wide-ranging agreement on European unity, the proposed accord does not seek to create a freer flow of workers between participating nations.

But as immigration has escalated in importance in the U.S. debate, both proponents and critics of the free trade pact have attempted to link the accord’s future effects to the thorny issue.

In a separate development, U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and her Mexican counterpart, Jorge Carpizo MacGregor, declared their intention Monday to “intensify communication” and “stimulate cooperation” between the two nations in an effort to prevent and resolve border problems.

In their joint statement, the top U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officers announced their intention to create a pilot program that would allow Mexican citizens in U.S. prisons to be sent to Mexico to complete their “rehabilitation and reintegration into Mexican society.”

No further details were available on the plan, which would have to clear various legal hurdles.

U.S. lawmakers in California and elsewhere, concerned about the costs of incarcerating thousands of Mexican nationals jailed on criminal charges, have called on authorities to investigate the feasibility of such a transfer.

Reno also met with Salinas during an official trip here.