ENSENADA, Calif., June 2 (UPI) -- Mexican President Vicente Fox says the solution to illegal immigration is more jobs in his country.
"We are working hard so that our people have jobs, so they earn good salaries," Fox told the San Diego Union-Tribune in an interview. "We are going to do our work on the Mexican side."
About 10 percent of Mexico's population now lives north of the Rio Grande, and the money they send home helps keep the economy afloat.
Fox said Mexico's economy is on the upswing, with 5.5 percent growth and 1 percent inflation. Mexican factories on the U.S. border could use 100,000 workers immediately.
Many of Fox's own childhood friends are lost to Mexico, he said.
"They are in Chicago, San Antonio, New York, these friends of mine."
Fox said economic opportunity in Mexico would slow immigration to a trickle, because Mexicans would prefer to stay in a familiar environment.
