Thread: Mexico optimistic U.S. headed toward immigration breakthroug

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Mexico optimistic U.S. headed toward immigration breakthrough


MEXICO CITY Mexico said today it's optimistic a major breakthrough could be on the way -- granting legal status to some of (M) millions of its undocumented citizens in the United States.

Mexican President Vicente Fox's spokesman says "there are a number of positive signs pointing to the possibility" of the kind of bilateral migration deal Mexico's been pushing for since 2001.

Ruben Aguilar's comments come as Mexico heads into a pair of high-level meetings with President Bush's administration. That includes a trilateral summit with Canada next week in the Caribbean resort city of Cancun, Mexico.

Barring such an accord, Aguilar says Mexico at the very least believes a guest-worker program for hundreds of thousands of Mexicans could be approved by the U-S Congress.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/breakingne ... 6mex_immig

March 22, 2006

Mexico optimistic Washington headed toward breakthrough on immigration
WILL WEISSERT
The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY- Mexico said Wednesday it is optimistic that a major breakthrough granting legal status to some of the millions of its undocumented citizens in the United States could be on the way.

"There are a number of positive signs pointing to the possibility" of the kind of bilateral migration accord this country has been pushing for since 2001, said Ruben Aguilar, spokesman for President Vicente Fox.

Aguilar's comments came as Mexico heads into a pair of high-level meetings with the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, including a trilateral summit with Canada next week in the Caribbean resort city of Cancun.

Barring such an accord, Mexico at the very least believes a guest-worker program for hundreds of thousands of Mexicans could be approved by the U.S. Congress, Aguilar said.

"There are a lot of elements that show the possibility there will finally be agreement within the U.S. Congress on a migration accord," he told a morning news conference.

Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington on Thursday as part of the U.S.-Mexican Binational Commission, which annually brings together top officials from both sides to discuss a range of cross-border issues.

Next week, Bush will travel to Cancun for meetings with Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Aguilar said the Fox government continues to view the upcoming meetings with optimism - despite years of little progress, and despite the fact that Bush has said declaring a blanket amnesty for undocumented Mexicans would be a mistake.

"It's a complex issue," Aguilar said when questioned about Bush's comments. "He (Bush) also said there is a possibility of an agreement on temporary workers that could start with at least 400,000" people.

Fox's administration has made a possible bilateral migration agreement with the United States the centerpiece of its foreign policy since shortly after the president took office in December 2000.

Some kind of migration measure approved by the U.S. Congress looked like a possibility in early 2001, but the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks raised new concerns about security that complicated the issue.

U.S. officials repeatedly have told Mexican leaders that such an agreement is not the Bush administration's to give and would have to be approved by Congress.

Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would extend border fences along some stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border while strengthening efforts to curb illegal immigration.

A different bill being considered by the Senate, drafted by Majority Leader Bill Frist, focuses on law enforcement but also includes some increases in visas for unskilled workers.

The measure leaves open the possibility of replacing the Frist bill with one that is being drafted by a Senate committee and that could include a guest-worker proposal as well as some form of legal status for illegal immigrants.

Aguilar said Mexico was buoyed by the fact that "there is discussion within the United States that a wall will not resolve any problems" and that the U.S. trade secretary applauded advertisements Mexico financed Monday in three U.S. papers stating its position on migration.

The full-page advertisements, which also appeared in a series of leading Mexican dailies, endorsing a "a far-reaching guest workers scheme," but said that in order for it to work "Mexico should participate in its design, management, supervision and evaluation."

The ad stated that this country does not promote illegal immigration and has worked to crackdown on people smugglers who help hundreds of thousands of its citizens slip into U.S. territory.

But it also said that undocumented Mexicans should be allowed to assimilate into the U.S. communities in which they now live and enjoy the same rights as everybody else.