Mexico opposes US fences

MEXICO will complain to the US government about plans to build fences and deploy troops along the border to curb illegal immigration, the foreign minister said yesterday.

Mexico has pushed for sweeping immigration reforms to help millions of Mexicans work legally in the United States but it fears Washington is more interested in keeping them out.

Luis Ernesto Derbez, the foreign minister, said Mexico would send a note protesting about plans to secure the 2,000-mile border, which hundreds of thousands of Mexicans cross every year in search of jobs.

"There are 12 million Mexicans on the other side, 12 million people who live every day in anguish about the need for a reform to let them live peacefully," he said.

The US Senate passed a bill that would see 370 miles of fences built at strategic points.

George Bush, the US president, was travelling to the border town of Yuma, Arizona, yesterday to press his case for tougher entry controls combined with reforms that would give millions of immigrants a chance to become US citizens.