MEXICO CITY (AP) - The foreign ministers of four Central American countries condemned U.S. Senate plan to build hundreds of kilometres of triple-layered fence on the United States' southern border, saying it would not stop illegal immigration.
But although the top diplomats from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Mexico all slammed the proposal, they said their only action would be to make more declarations and send diplomatic notes.
In a joint news conference late Thursday in Mexico City, the five ministers said that building barriers is not the way to solve problems between neighbouring countries.
"The position of Mexico and the other countries is that walls will not make a difference in terms of the solution to the migration problem," said Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate approved a proposal to build 595 kilometres of triple-layer fencing along parts of the 3,200-kilometre border separating the U.S. and Mexico.
In the same session, the Senate agreed to give many illegal immigrants a shot at U.S. citizenship.
Guatemalan Foreign Minister Jorge Briz said that a major immigration reform in the United States is the only way to stop the human wave heading northward.
"All of us are looking for a comprehensive migratory regulation so that millions of Latin Americans can continue working in and supporting the United States economy," Briz said.
Earlier Thursday, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. State Department outlining the country's concerns about the proposed barrier.
On Friday in Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said officials had received the letter, but hadn't had time to review or respond to it.
Honduran Foreign Minister Milton Jimenez said that he expected the five countries and other countries in South America and the Caribbean to issue a joint declaration on the matter soon.
Fox criticized the wall on Thursday.
"Building walls, constructing barriers on the border does not offer an efficient solution in a relationship of friends, neighbours and partners," Fox said in the border city of Tijuana. "We will go on defending the rights of our countrymen without rest or respite. With passion we will demand the full respect of their human rights."
On the border with Arizona, bedraggled migrants who had been turned back by the border patrol said that more fences would not keep them from crossing but only make smugglers charge more money for the trip.
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