Thread: Calderon to push for immigration accord

Calderon to push for immigration accord
By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer
11 minutes ago



MEXICO CITY - President-elect Felipe Calderon said Thursday that one of his top priorities will be trying to win an immigration accord before President Bush leaves office. In an interview with foreign journalists, Calderon said he will try to convince U.S. lawmakers that an accord is in both countries' interests.


"We will work intensely over the next two years to arrive at a concrete agreement with the Bush administration," he said.

Outgoing President Vicente Fox spent much of his six-year term unsuccessfully pushing the United States for an immigration accord. Calderon has said Fox was held back by the diversion of U.S. attention and Washington's crackdown on immigration after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Calderon said Thursday he would work to persuade Washington to take action by capitalizing on the fresh attention the immigration issue has been receiving in the U.S. In Washington, Congress remains divided over whether to crack down on illegal immigrants or give many of them the opportunity to become citizens.

Also Thursday, Fox spokesman Ruben Aguilar said the president is inviting Mexico's main leftist party to negotiate a solution to the nation's divisive political crisis and work toward unifying the country.

Runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has refused to recognize Calderon's victory, and planned an Independence Day convention that may name him as the nation's alternative leader. He says fraud is responsible for Calderon's slim lead.

Aguilar said the president is contacting all five former presidential candidates and their parties and asking them to meet with him. Fox, who under Mexican law can serve only a single six-year term, leaves office Dec. 1.

In a largely symbolic ceremony late Wednesday, the Federal Electoral Tribunal's seven magistrates recognized Calderon as the winner of the July 2 election by a margin of fewer than 234,000 votes out of 42 million cast.

Calderon, a 44-year-old lawyer and member of Fox's National Action Party, pledged once again to govern for all Mexicans — an olive branch to the millions who didn't vote for him.

Outside the court, Lopez Obrador supporters spit at one judge as she arrived at the ceremony and threw eggs at a former federal official who became a member of Calderon's campaign. Calderon arrived early, entering the court through a back door away from the protesters. Dozens of federal police stood guard outside, and no injuries were reported.

During his nightly rally at a protest camp in Mexico City's main square, Lopez Obrador claimed Wednesday he already had 210,000 people signed up for a "great people's assembly ... to decide the destiny of our nation."

He said he hopes more than 1 million will attend what he's calling the National Democratic Convention on Sept. 16, Mexico's Independence Day. He has said the convention will choose between naming him as "chief" or "coordinator of resistance" or "legitimate president."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060907/ap_ ... o_calderon

And I have a great suggestion for that accord, all Mexican citizens return home. How's that Felipe??? Sign on the dotted line. Then come retrieve your charges!

MEXICO CITY - President-elect Felipe Calderon said Thursday that one of his top priorities will be trying to win an immigration accord before President Bush leaves office. In an interview with foreign journalists, Calderon said he will try to convince U.S. lawmakers that an accord is in both countries' interests.


"We will work intensely over the next two years to arrive at a concrete agreement with the Bush administration," he said.

Well, I think we all knew this was coming! The Mexican government has been forcing illegals into our country for years, now it's going to pursue all avenues to get them legalized. Calderon knows the illegals are in jeopardy of being sent home unless they are given legal status. We all know Calderon wants to keep that 20 billion in remittances rolling in.

Originally Posted by MW

MEXICO CITY - President-elect Felipe Calderon said Thursday that one of his top priorities will be trying to win an immigration accord before President Bush leaves office. In an interview with foreign journalists, Calderon said he will try to convince U.S. lawmakers that an accord is in both countries' interests.


"We will work intensely over the next two years to arrive at a concrete agreement with the Bush administration," he said.

Well, I think we all knew this was coming! The Mexican government has been forcing illegals into our country for years, now it's going to pursue all avenues to get them legalized. Calderon knows the illegals are in jeopardy of being sent home unless they are given legal status. We all know Calderon wants to keep that 20 billion in remittances rolling in.

Illegal invaders= US voters= Aztlán

I want his first phone call to go to Sensenbrenner and his second to Tancredo and I want to listen in.

Dixie

I want his first phone call to go to Sensenbrenner and his second to Tancredo and I want to listen in.

Dixie

Won't happen, Dixie. President Calderon has now been elevated in status and will deal directly with President Bush (he hasn't got time for underlings). I'd hate to listen to a phone call between those two, I believe doing so would quickly jeopardize my health and send me immediately into cardiac arrest.

You can bet it won't be long before Bush and Calderon begin brewing up all sorts of magic to deceive the American public.

Will this "accord" be equitable on both sides of the border? In other words, will it allow American citizens to bombard Mexico, take jobs from Mexican citizens, demand free services and special privelges from the Mexican government, demand that we are spoken to only in English, and rally and protest in the streets of Mexico for "Undocumented American Immigrants" rights?

Well, will it???

Originally Posted by americangirl

Will this "accord" be equitable on both sidees of the border? In other words, will it allow American citizens to bombard Mexico, take jobs from Mexican citizens, demand free services and special privelges from the Mexican government, demand that we are spoken to only in English, and rally and protest in the streets of Mexico for "Undocumented American" Immigrants rights?

Well, will it???

hummm, send that question to Calderon. See if he will tell the truth.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/ ... 70410.html

Sept. 7, 2006, 2:18PM
Calderon to seek U.S. immigration reform

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY — Mexico's president-elect says he will try to do what his predecessor couldn't in six years: Win an immigration accord that will let millions more Mexicans work in the United States legally.

Felipe Calderon said Thursday he is committed to winning sweeping immigration reform in the U.S. Congress before President Bush leaves office in January 2009. Calderon, who spoke with Bush by phone on Wednesday, said he believes the White House is ready for action.

"We will work intensely over the next two years to arrive at a concrete agreement," he said.

Pro-immigrant marches began anew this week in the United States as Congress reconvened, though action on immigration is unlikely given elections in November.

Outgoing President Vicente Fox spent six years trying to obtain legal status for the nearly 6 million undocumented Mexicans in the United States, and his inability to secure an accord was among the biggest failures of his term.

Mexican presidents are limited to one six-year term, and Calderon will replace Fox on Dec. 1. Both are members of the pro-business National Action Party.

The Sept. 11 terror attacks diverted the Bush administration's focus from immigration reform to security issues. Calderon said he believes he can capitalize on renewed U.S. attention to the immigration issue to persuade Congress to approve reforms.

Calderon said Mexico has to create more jobs to slow the flow of Mexicans heading north, noting that "every year, more than 1.2 million Mexican youths reach working age. Many, facing a lack of alternatives, go looking for opportunities in the United States."

"We can't ignore it, we can't write a law making it disappear," Calderon said. "We have to find ways to improve things. That is not only in the interest of Mexico, but also a U.S. interest."

The runner-up in Mexico's July 2 presidential election, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has refused to recognize Calderon's victory and plans a convention Sept. 16 to create a parallel government.

Thousands of his supporters have set up a protest camp in the heart of Mexico City, crippling traffic and hurting tourism and local businesses. They claim fraud and illicit government spending was responsible for Calderon's victory by fewer than 234,000 votes out of the nearly 42 million cast.

Fox spokesman Ruben Aguilar said Thursday the president was inviting Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolutionary Party to negotiate a solution to the political crisis.

Calderon says he will reach out to the millions who didn't vote for him by proposing initiatives to reduce poverty, create jobs and combat crime. He said he will include opposition party leaders in a coalition-style government.

"In order to cross an abyss, you have to have bridges," he said. "For my part, a bridge will always be there, awaiting the moment my adversaries want to cross."

But Democratic Revolution spokesman Gerardo Fernandez said Thursday that Calderon would have to resign before the party would consider talks.

"We completely reject all possibility of negotiations," Fernandez said.

Democratic Revolution lawmakers seized the floor of Congress last week and blocked Fox from delivering his final state-of-the-nation address. The party has promised to block his inauguration before Congress on Dec. 1.

But Calderon said Thursday it was lawmakers' responsibility to ensure the handover of power goes smoothly _ and that he didn't believe they would turn their backs on Mexico's constitution.

"I will take office Dec. 1," he said. "Of that you can be sure."

The 44-year-old lawyer and career politician said his first overseas visit after taking office will be to neighboring Guatemala. He added that his conservative administration wouldn't clash with the governments of the region's leading leftists, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro. Relations with both countries deteriorated under Fox.

"I will have a respectful relationship with all heads of state," he said, "without exception or bias."

So his top priority is to not make quality of life for the citizens of Mexico living in Mexico better, but to keep the status quo and continue to meddle in our affairs that don't concern him.