Posted on June 3, 2005

Mexico Jobs May Deter Migration

Jerry Seper, Washington Times, June 3

The governor of Sonora, Mexico, through which more than half of the migrants crossing illegally each year into America pass, says his country and the United States must “work together” to create more jobs in Mexico to curtail illegal immigration.

Gov. Eduardo Bours Castelo, in an interview yesterday with The Washington Times, also said Mexico and the United States need to better coordinate the flow of information from federal authorities to state and local officials in both countries and warned that civilians attempting to fill the immigration enforcement void was “just not a good idea.”

“A huge number of people are moving through Sonora each year, and we need to work together — the United States and Mexico — to find a better way to secure our border,” Mr. Bours said. “Very simply, the only way to address this problem is a coordinated sharing and exchange of information at all levels of government in both countries.

“But it’s not happening,” he said.

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More jobs for Mexican nationals, Mr. Bours said, is “the only solution at the end of the day.” He said Mexico, working through NAFTA with the help of the United States, would give people “a reason to stay” in Mexico.

“That’s the simplistic answer right now, because we don’t have the jobs,” Mr. Bours said. “But if we are going to solve this problem, we are going to have to create them.”

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