Residents line up to receive a piece of Rosca de Reyes, an oval-shaped Mexican bread, at the Zocalo Square in Mexico City, Mexico, Jan. 5, 2017. Mexicans celebrate Epiphany, also known as the Three Kings Day, a religious festival coming around Jan. 6 each year. (Xinhua/Str)

by Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- As U.S. President Donald Trump sets his sights on building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Americans have a more favorable view of Mexico than they have in over a decade, a Gallup poll released Wednesday found.

Sixty-four percent of Americans say they have "very" or "mostly" favorable views of the neighboring country, up from 59 percent in 2016 and the highest since 2006, Gallup found.

The news comes at a time when Trump has generated controversy by announcing that he would build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border in a bid to stem the massive tide of illegal immigration into the United States, which now has around 11 million illegal migrants.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans have favorable views of Mexico, reflecting a significant improvement from a near-record low of 45 percent in 2011.

Since then, even before Trump announced his intention to run for president, Mexico's image has steadily improved among all party groups of Americans.

After peaking at 74 percent in 2003 and 2005, Americans' positive views of Mexico fell to 64 percent in 2006 amid heightened publicity about drug and gang wars and issues related to near-record-high illegal immigration from Mexico into the United States.

Americans' favorable views of Mexico continued to wane for another five years, bottoming out at 45 percent in 2011 -- the lowest rating for Mexico since 1993, just before Californians passed a high-profile anti-immigrant ballot measure. Since 2011, Mexico's image has gradually improved, rising 19 percentage points, Gallup found.