Thread: Officials await word on a Utah visit by Vicente Fox

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3787937

It also appears he is going to Seattle.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-25425-seattle.html

Article Last Updated: 5/05/2006 08:01 AM


Officials await word on a Utah visit by Vicente Fox

Tribune Staff
and Wire Services

Salt Lake Tribune

Mexican President Vicente Fox may visit Utah this month.

The visit must be approved by Mexico's Senate, but a spokesman for Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. says he is "anticipating the confirmation soon."

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire's office says Fox's confirmation of a Washington visit also is expected soon.

It would be Fox's first trip to Utah and Washington, and the first time state officials in both states can recall any Mexican president visiting the States. He's coming at the invitation of both governors.

"The Governor's Office hasn't received official confirmation," Huntsman spokesman, Mike Mower, said late Thursday. But a visit has been anticipated, he added.

Fox's visit to Utah would be a follow-up to Huntsman's 30-minute meeting with the president in Mexico City in July. At the time, Huntsman said Fox accepted an invitation to come to Utah this year.

If Fox visits Utah, he and Huntsman likely will talk trade, education, culture and immigration, Mower said.

Though Fox will leave office this year because of term limits, it is important for Huntsman to meet with the president, Mower said. Fox, 63, was elected in 2000.

Latinos make up some 11 percent of Utah's population. Of the more than 253,000 Latinos here, roughly 70 percent are of Mexican descent, the U.S. census shows. Fox is expected to visit California, too.

In Washington, Fox is expected to visit May 24 to meet the state's governor, business leaders and Latino community members.

Trade and immigration will be on the agenda.

Gregoire, the state's governor, said it's a coincidence that Fox's visit comes when immigration is dominating the news, but she expects him to address the topic.

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

Details of his schedule were sketchy Tuesday, but in addition to talks about immigration, officials expect Fox to discuss trade issues with Gregoire, to go to a Washington State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce luncheon and to meet members of the local Latino community.

I'd like to be there to tell Fox that he needs to call home his millions of illegals, start taking care of his people, and QUIT sticking his nose in our business!

Hopefully he's here to the 12 to 18 million illegals back home with him !

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_3792350

Article Last Updated: 5/06/2006 07:52 AM


Fox's Utah visit a blast for Latinos
Big hopes: Mexico's president is scheduled to come later this month
By Jennifer W. Sanchez
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune

For the first time in Utah history, a Mexican president is expected to visit later this month, and Mexicans living here say they are excited and hope the leader makes time in his busy schedule to meet with them.

Mexican nationals say they understand President Vicente Fox's agenda will be booked with meetings with politicians and other leaders. But, they would like to see Fox attend an open community forum, where he could address the Mexicans in Utah.

"It's important for the community to see him," says Rocio Mejia, who has lived in the United States for 30 years. "If he doesn't do it, it's going to make many people upset."

Utah officials say they are waiting for confirmation from the Mexican government that Fox will visit Utah during a trip in which he also is expected to travel to the states of Washington and California. But Mike Mower, spokesman for Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., says he anticipates that Fox will be in Utah on May 23 and 24.

Salvador Jimenez, the Mexican consulate in Salt Lake City, declined to provide details on Fox's visit until it is approved by the Mexican Congress. He expects that approval Monday or sometime next week.

A Utah official says the president might address the Utah Legislature during a special session, and meet with leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Dale Bills, a church spokesman, says "pending confirmation from the Mexican government, a courtesy visit is planned with the First Presidency when President Vicente Fox visits Utah later this month."

Zions Bank is hosting a 1 p.m. May 23 event at the Little America Hotel, where Fox will address a 400-person crowd, a bank official says.

If Fox visits Utah, he and Huntsman likely will talk trade, education, culture and immigration, Mower says.

Fox's visit to Utah would be a follow-up to Huntsman's 30-minute meeting with the president in Mexico City in July. Huntsman said at that time that Fox accepted an invitation to come to Utah this year.

Though Fox will leave office this year because of term limits, it is important for Huntsman to meet with the president, Mower says. Fox, 63, was elected in 2000. The Mexican presidential election is scheduled for July.

"It's always significant and worthwhile to meet with a head of state, especially one from a neighboring country with strong ties to our state," Mower says.

Latinos make up about 11 percent of Utah's population. Of the more than 253,000 Latinos here, roughly 70 percent are of Mexican descent or from Mexico, the U.S. Census estimates.

While government leaders from Mexico regularly visit Utah, Fox's trip would bring a message of hope for the undocumented immigrants living here and open the door for future Mexican presidents to visit The Beehive State, says Salvador Lazalde, who moved from Mexico to Utah 28 years ago.

With the recent immigration debates in the U.S. Congress, Lazalde says undocumented immigrants from Mexico who are living in Utah are scared and nervous and "don't know what's going to happen tomorrow." There are about 90,000 undocumented immigrants in Utah.

"At least the Mexican president can be here to support them," Lazalde says. "It will send a message to the Mexican community that I know what's going on and I feel for you."

Some Mexicans in Utah say they have been pleased with the programs and changes Fox has initiated as president, citing the example of a program to provide health care for indigenous and low-income residents.

"He's been doing a lot of good things, but there's more to do," Lazalde says.

But they say they want to know what the Mexican government is going to do about creating more and better jobs in their home country.

Mejia, who has lived in the United States for 30 years, says she hopes Fox "has some straight answers for my questions." The first: What are they going to do about Mexicans immigrating to the United States for work?

"If we have a job in Mexico and a way to support our families, we are going to stop coming to the United States, because there will be no reason for us to come," she says.

jsanchez@sltrib.com

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635205246,00.html

Fox topics likely trade, migration

Legislature to hold special session for Mexico's president

By Deborah Bulkeley
Deseret Morning News

Nearly a year after Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. extended a formal invitation to Mexican President Vicente Fox to visit Utah, the presidential visit is nearly a done deal.

Vicente Fox And those who worked to bring Fox to Utah were optimistic Friday that the visit, tentatively planned later this month, would strengthen trade, educational and cultural ties that Huntsman promoted during meetings with Fox in Mexico City last July.

"The biggest benefit will be to put Utah into the international community and open the doors for a lot of Utah companies as well," said Joe Reyna, chairman of the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

"Vicente Fox will be the first to come, but I think it will open the door for other heads of state," said Reyna, who was part of the governor's delegation to Mexico City.

The visit, which would be the first by a Mexican president to Utah, still needs approval of the Mexican Senate, but Reyna said it is "95 percent" sealed.

In 2002, the Mexican Senate barred Fox from visiting the United States, but Reyna said he hasn't seen anything to indicate that will happen now.

Salt Lake City Mexican Consul Salvador Jimenez has made a visit by President Vicente Fox a top priority of his administration since he arrived in January 2005.

"We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel," Jimenez said. "There is real potential of having this visit."

"This is the biggest news that we can give here in our state," Jimenez said.

Jimenez declined to discuss details until the visit is finalized but was hopeful approval would come next week.

Huntsman's spokesman Mike Mower has also said the visit, part of a planned tour that also would include Washington and California, is anticipated, though it hasn't been formally announced.

The governor is expected to call a special session so Fox can address the state Legislature. And, a courtesy visit is tentatively planned with the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said church spokesman Dale Bills.

Fox is also scheduled to meet with members of the Mexican community and with business leaders, Reyna said.

Reyna hopes to boost trade with Mexico. He pointed to Utah's annual exports to Mexico, which totaled $122 million in 2004, according to a recent report by the University of Utah.

"It's a big opportunity for trade," Reyna said. "I would like to see trade numbers of $300 to $400 million."

Another topic of discussion will likely be immigration reform, an increasingly volatile issue that could come up in the U.S. Senate later this month. Thousands of mostly Latino protestors have taken to the street in past weeks in protest of a bill the U.S. House passed last year, which would make it a felony to be in the country illegally and crack down on those who employ undocumented aliens.

Alex Segura, director of the anti-illegal immigration group Utah Minuteman Project, is planning a protest of Fox's visit, to show a disdain for Mexican policies.

"Mexico needs to take care of its own people," Segura said. "Why is everyone leaving to come here? What's going on?"

But Reyna hoped that an opportunity to hear directly from Fox on the issue would help foster understanding.

"Utah public officials and Utah citizens will be able to hear from (Fox), why is immigration such a big issue ... and what are the solutions to this, based on his own perspective," Reyna said. "To hear that from him in Salt Lake City will make a big difference, and people can make up their own opinions afterward."

Armando Solorzano, associate professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah, suggested Fox, an outgoing president in an election year, could use the visit to tout his political party, PAN.

The visit will also give Fox a chance to promote dual citizenship and remittances among Mexican nationals, Solorzano said.

There are 158,664 people of Mexican descent living in Utah, 62,949 of whom are foreign-born, according to the 2000 Census.

Remittances from Utah to Mexico totaled about $148 million in 2004, according to a recent University of Utah report on Utah-Mexico relations.

"There is a section of the Latino population who are opposed to the fact that Mexicans send money to Mexico," Solorzano said. "They want to see Mexicans invest the money here in Utah. President Fox is saying, 'It's fine, we need your money.' "


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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com