Mexico warns U.S. of referral to UN over border fencing plan

The Mexican government on Wednesday warned that it may refer Washington's plan to building fences on the U.S.- Mexico border to the United Nations.

The U.S. plan to build about 1,125 km of new fencing along the U.S.- Mexico border was an "offense," Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez told a news briefing here.

When asked if the Mexican government would refer the issue to the United Nations, he said it was "examining with the foreign relations legal team what options are open at an international level, and we will take them."

He said the fences would hurt the bilateral relations. "Just the idea of a wall, a fence ... is an insult to good neighbors."

The plan has aroused strong opposition from Mexico. The outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox called the fence plan "shameful," while President-elect Felipe Calderon said the fences were not the solution to illegal immigration.

Fox's spokesman Ruben Aguilar on Wednesday said the fences would not be built as the U.S. Congress was unlikely to provide enough funding to finish the project.

"There is no money to build it, so it will not be built," he told reporters.

Despite Mexico's efforts to lobby for a veto, U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday signed a bill, which had been passed earlier by the U.S. Congress and will pay for the new fences which are aimed at preventing illegal immigration.

Under the bill, about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars would be spent during the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1 for southwest border fencing and other barriers.

However, no one knows how much the proposed project will cost. A 23-km segment of fencing under construction in San Diego has been priced at 126.5 million dollars.

Source: Xinhua