A priceless phenomenon: foreign secretary asks U.S. to recognize the value of Mexican immigrants.

Until Mexico has enough jobs, immigration will continue and the United States should embrace it as a positive phenomenon as the nation's population ages, Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said at an AMERICAN CHAMBER/MEXICO forum in mid-August.

In a speech that focused on pushing the Fox administration's migration agenda, Derbez began by outlining the government's five-point foreign relations policy: greater international visibility, improving human rights, strengthening commercial presence abroad, participating in more international forums and bodies and protecting the human rights of Mexicans abroad.

Calling the Mexico-U.S. relationship "the most complicated of any two nations in the world," Derbez cited security, commercial ties and the movement of people as the government's most important objectives along the 2,200-mile border. However, he was quick to point out that the movement of people does not inherently imply illegality, such as illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

According to the secretary, 350 million people cross the border each year, and only a fraction of those crossing are involved in unlawful activity, while the vast majority are participating in legitimate commerce.

But Derbez added that 365,000 Mexicans go north every year to live permanently in the United States. Until Mexico can produce enough jobs to satisfy the needs of the population, he said, this phenomenon will continue. However, he put a positive spin on the issue by arguing that the United States needs immigrants as its population grays, consequently increasing the demand for services.

Currently, 26 million people of Mexican descent live in the United States--10 million of them born in Mexico--and Derbez said eventually a Mexican family that does not have a relative living in the United States will be "strange."

However, Derbez also showed he was conscious of Mexico's own immigration problem. The number of immigrants from other countries traveling through Mexican territory--some to stay but most heading toward the United States--increased throughout the 1990s, Derbez noted. He cited specifically migrants from Central America, Ecuador and Peru.

The also secretary dealt harsh criticism to polleros, or immigrant traffickers, in a speech that came live days after federal agents arrested 12 people in connection with the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants found in the back of a trailer track in Texas on May 13.

He called pollero gangs, who charge between 35,000 and 70,000 pesos to transport an undocumented immigrant from Mexico to the United States, "mafias who work to transport people as if they were merchandise" and promised continued police operations against them.

In closing his presentation, Derbez briefly touched on the interrelation between border commerce and security. He said cooperating on safety issues along the northern frontier has been key to growth in bilateral trade, which Derbez put at US$300 billion annually. The secretary compared that to border crossing, emphasizing that only a fraction of that amount is connected to illicit activities.

Armando Saliba is the associate editor of BUSINESS MEXICO.