MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. Senate made a grave error by failing to pass legislation that would have led to the legalization of millions of unlawful immigrants, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Thursday.
The bill’s collapse will close the door to legal immigration, encourage continued illegal immigration and human rights violations and decrease security on both sides of the border, Calderon said.
He added that the measure would have been a “sensible, rational, legal solution to the immigration problem,” and its failure will hurt the competitiveness of both the U.S. and Mexico.
The U.S. “economy could not prosper and advance without the labor of Mexican and Central American immigrants,” he told a news conference held with visiting Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.
Calderon has pushed hard for immigration reform while strongly criticizing a 700-mile (1,100-kilometer) border-security fence approved by Congress and President Bush.
Salvadoran President Tony Saca also lamented the measure’s failure, saying, “What a shame. What a shame.”
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