Mexico's Fox: Build bridges, not walls

He decried hostile U.S. stance on immigration at Duke's business school graduation

DURHAM -- Promoting immigration, instead of creating policies against it, will help the United States maintain its status as the world's top economy, former Mexican president Vicente Fox told a group of Duke University graduates Saturday.

Fox, who was Mexico's president from 2000 to 2006, said the United States' anti-immigration stance promotes isolation and prevents openness, competitiveness and innovation. Fox has strongly urged the United States to grant equal rights to all immigrants and has constantly referred to anti-immigration practices, such as building a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border.

"This nation was built on immigrants," said Fox, the commencement speaker for the Global Executive MBA program at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. "The Chinese wall didn't work against their enemies. The Berlin Wall didn't work against freedom.

"The threat of this nation is not immigration. The threat to this nation is isolation."

Immigration, especially illegal immigration from Mexico, has been a hot topic nationally and locally. North Carolina leads the nation in the number of law enforcement agencies interested in a program allowing officers to check the immigration status of those arrested and in jail.

Durham has been labeled a "sanctuary city" by advocates for strict immigration enforcement. The label comes from a 2003 city council resolution that says police "may not request specific documents for the sole purpose of determining a person's civil immigration status and may not initiate police action based solely on a person's civil immigration status." Departing city councilman Thomas Stith, who lost to Mayor Bill Bell in the recent mayoral election, led a failed effort to change the policy.

Fox's visit to Durham was a quiet one. His public appearances are sometimes met with protesters, but Duke officials kept news of his visit low-key.

Fox, whose family immigrated to Mexico from Cincinnati, called immigrants "heroes" and urged the graduates to narrow the gaps of income, education and health access by building bridges.

"Bridges of love and understanding and trading," he said. "Bridges of investing, bridges of talent, bridges of sharing, education, technology. Let's then build bridges that our world needs. And tear [down] those ugly walls."

His message, met with a standing ovation, resonated with graduate Andrey Shirokov, 32. The Moscow native, who has a job waiting for him in the banking industry, said the walls Fox talked about were in place in the Soviet Union and prevented the country from prospering. Shirokov thinks illegal immigrants should be allowed into the United States.

"They are illegal because of the regulations," he said. "You need to change them so more people will be able to come legally and develop this country."

Fox also noted that Latin American countries are slowly beginning to prosper as totalitarian governments dissolve.

Economic "reforms were painful in Latin America," he said. "Now we're recuperating for time we lost in the last century."

Gordon Jeans, 47, of Apex, who attended the graduation, thinks the United States should focus more on helping countries like Mexico gain economic prosperity.

"Everyone seems to overlook the thought that if you make life in Mexico better, people aren't going to be as eager to go to another country to make something out of their lives," Jeans said after the ceremony. "More opportunity means more people staying put."