Thread: Mexican leader Fox to visit Seattle

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... ox03m.html

Wednesday, May 3, 2006 - 12:00 AM

Mexican leader to visit Seattle

By Andrew Garber
Seattle Times staff reporter

OLYMPIA — Trade and immigration will be on the agenda when Mexico President Vicente Fox makes an expected visit to Seattle this month to meet with the governor, business leaders and people in the local Latino community.

The visit must be approved by Mexico's Senate, but the Governor's Office says that's expected soon. It would be Fox's first trip to Washington, and the first time state officials can recall any president from Mexico visiting the state. He's coming at the invitation of Gov. Christine Gregoire.

Gregoire said it's a coincidence that Fox's visit comes at a time when immigration dominates the news, but she expects him to address the topic. "I think he will probably talk about it while he is here and bring a perspective and say it in a way that will be pretty telling to us," she said.

Fox has advocated an immigration accord that would grant some form of legal status to many of the Mexicans now in the United States illegally. He also has said that, at the least, he would like to see a guest-worker program in place before leaving office at the end of the year.

Fox, 63, was elected in 2000.

He is expected to fly into Seattle on May 24 and leave the following day. Details of his schedule were sketchy Tuesday, but in addition to talks about immigration, officials expect him to discuss trade issues with Gregoire, go to a luncheon hosted by the Washington State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and meet with members of the local Latino community.

About 500,000 Latinos live in Washington state, and about 80 percent are of Mexican heritage, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2004 estimate.

Fox will be the second prominent world leader to visit Washington this year. Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the Seattle area last month on his way to meetings with President Bush in Washington, D.C.

"It speaks to how important we are in the global marketplace," Gregoire said.

Mexico ranked 11th last year for Washington exports, ahead of the United Kingdom, according to the state Department of Community Trade and Economic Development. China was No. 3.

Mexico is the largest importer of apples from Washington state, according to Michael Sotelo, president of the Washington State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Fox's visit is timely, given the current debate about immigration, said Magdaleno Rose-Avila, executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.

Thousands of immigrants, mostly Latinos, rallied in Washington and across the country on Monday in response to legislation in Congress that would make it a felony to be in the U.S. without proper documentation or to assist illegal immigrants.

The bill, which passed the House of Representatives in December, also would build 700 miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

"He needs to be very clear those punitive bills would not only violate the civil rights of individuals, but would dramatically affect the ability of growers in Washington to find available labor. That's the biggest message he could send," Rose-Avila said.

He also would like to see Fox talk about "wanting to work on a way with the United States government so that people can be legalized when they come across here, and that, for many, if you come here and work hard, they have a legal path to citizenship."

Fox is seen as a role model for Latinos, said Sotelo, whose group is helping to schedule Fox's visit.

"He can get the message out to the people who came from Mexico on the proper way to represent themselves here in this country: Get educated, work hard, be honest, pay taxes, get involved with the community, take your children to school, get involved with the schools," Sotelo said.

Sotelo expects much of the visit will deal with trade and business issues. "There's a lot of things they have to offer and a lot of things we have to offer," he said.

Gregoire said she plans to talk with Fox about Boeing airplanes, software, "any other trade issues I can think of our folks want to have discussed."

Gregoire invited Fox to visit Washington during a video teleconference last year and followed up with a written invitation in January. In her letter, Gregoire said she wanted to introduce Fox to executives at Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, Alaska Airlines and other firms with connections to Mexico.

Fox is expected to also visit Utah and California.

He was scheduled to visit Seattle in 2002 as part of a trip to the U.S. and Canada, but Mexico's Senate wouldn't approve the trip. Under Mexican law, the Senate must authorize any presidential trips outside of Mexico.

In 2002, opposition lawmakers complained that Fox was spending too much time traveling and not enough time dealing with domestic concerns.

Andrew Garber: 360-943-9882 or agarber@seattletimes.com

Illegals building 777's?

if all they want is to work legally in the United States, then why do they demand legalization, amnesty and citiizenship? There is no need for any of them to be "legal residents" of any state