MEXICO CITY — U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza defended his criticism of Mexico's law enforcement efforts on the border even though it has ruffled feathers here, saying he has a responsibility to protect the safety of U.S. citizens...

In January, the U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory alerting citizens to recent drug-trafficking and kidnapping violence on the Mexican side of the shared border.

Soon after, Garza sent an open letter to Mexican officials criticizing local law enforcement's progress against border crime and saying the lack of security along the border could have a "chilling" effect on trade and tourism...

President Vicente Fox later said Garza's letter went too far.

...Garza [yesterday] also stressed the importance of generating economic growth in Mexico's poor and neglected regions. He said it was important to establish social entrepreneurship that can develop strong, local market networks to serve low-income communities.

Immigration reform is more likely to occur when "Mexico is doing everything it can to create economic opportunities" for Mexicans, Garza said. "Reliance on remittances from the U.S. is not a viable economic policy. This only increases dependence on the United States and delays Mexico's full participation in the global economy..."

"Immigration reform" is, of course, a euphemism for "regularization", which is the euphemism for "a massive illegal alien amnesty."

There's more from Reuters here:

The United States would be "far more likely" to ease immigration rules if it felt the Mexican government was doing enough to tighten border security and grow its economy, the US ambassador said yesterday.

Tony Garza, the US ambassador, told the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico that George W Bush, the US president, was committed to creating a guest worker programme which would provide temporary visas to workers from Mexico and other countries. "There should be no doubt, however, that immigration reform will become far more likely when the US public and its leaders feel confident that the border is secure and Mexico is doing everything it can to create economic opportunities here at home," he said, according to an advance copy of his speech...

..."Mexico can no longer rely on cheap labor as its comparative advantage," he continued. "And imagine what else could be achieved were corruption less pervasive, no longer able to poison business deals, encourage illicit activity, and chill investment..."