Mexico Responds to Plan for U.S. Border Fence

Kevin R. Johnson, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Mabie-Apallas Public Interest Professor of Law and Chicana/o Studies, responds on Netscape News to an Associated Press story that Mexico sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. government saying a plan to build hundreds of miles of fencing on the border to block illegal immigrants would damage relations. Johnson expressed concern about the implications of weakened relations between the two countries. "We trade with Mexico, we're trying to get Mexico to help with the war on terror," he says. He points out that Mexico has legitimate interests in keeping its citizens from dying as they attempt to cross the border.

October 4, 2006/Netscape News