MEXICO CITY - A Mecklenburg County commissioner's recent comments comparing illegal immigrants to prostitutes and drug dealers first inflamed the local Latino community, and now the anger has spilled into Mexico.

Mexican politicians and residents are calling Republican Bill James' statements -- printed Friday in one of Mexico City's leading newspapers -- an example of growing hostility against Latinos in the United States.

James made the comments during an April 15 commissioners meeting while discussing government contracts and whether illegal immigrants pay taxes. Near the end of the talk, Commissioner Norman Mitchell, a Democrat, referenced a recent Charlotte Observer article that mentioned that illegal immigrants paid taxes. James interjected that prostitutes and drug dealers also pay taxes.

"Al Capone paid taxes," he said.

James said Thursday that his comments were meant to show that immigrants, prostitutes and drug dealers all engage in illegal activity.

"You're breaking the law, you need to get right with the law," James said. "It doesn't have anything to do with whether your hair is blond, brown or black. It doesn't matter what your skin color is, your eyes, whatever."

The controversy over James' comments reached Mexico at a time of growing concern about anti-immigrant feelings damaging U.S.-Mexico relations. Mexican President Felipe Calderon in February denounced sentiments in the U.S. that characterize "Mexicans as the enemy."

Jose Jacques Medina, a member of Mexico's lower house of Congress, said he's aware of the commissioner's proposals to deny county services to illegal immigrants.

"This is just racism, comparing us to prostitutes and narcotraffickers, in order win votes," said Jacques Medina, secretary of the commission on Population, Border and Migratory Affairs.

Oscar Avila, a 19-year-old pen salesman in Mexico City, struggled to understand James' feelings. "He's just discriminating against the people," Avila said. "He's calling people who are just trying to make a better life for themselves narcotraffickers. That's not right."