Mexico warns US over troops on border

MEXICO warned last night that it would file lawsuits in the United States if National Guard troops on the border become directly involved in detaining immigrants.

"If there is a real wave of rights abuses, if we see the National Guard starting to directly participate in detaining people, we would immediately start filing lawsuits through our consulates," said Luis Ernesto Derbez, the foreign secretary.

George Bush, the US president, announced on Monday that he will send 6,000 National Guard troops to the 2,000-mile US-Mexico border, but said they will provide intelligence and surveillance support to US Border Patrol agents and will not catch and detain illegal immigrants.

It is estimated there are 12 million illegal immigrants in the US, the bulk from Mexico and Latin America.

A spokesman for Vicente Fox, the Mexican president, said that Mexico accepted Mr Bush's statement that the troops did not imply a militarisation of the border, and that Mexico remained "optimistic" that the US Senate would approve an immigration reform "in the interests of both countries".

He noted that Mr Bush expressed support for the legalisation of some immigrants and the implementation of a guest worker programme.

He dismissed as "absolutely false" rumours that Mexico would send its own troops to the border in response.

Critics have accused Mr Bush of using the plan to win support for immigration reform from US conservatives, who are more interested in tightening border security.