http://www.mexiconews.com.mx/miami/16518.html

Lawmakers will lobby U.S. Senate
El Universal
January 05, 2006

Mexican lawmakers will ask their U.S. counterparts to move up a scheduled meeting on immigration to February from March, Mexico´s speaker of the lower house of Congress said.

Congressman Heliodoro DÃÂ*az said Mexican senators and representatives will form a joint committee to lobby the U.S. Senate to reject a bill, approved by the U.S. House on Dec. 16, that calls for adding 700 miles of fence on the U.S.-Mexico border.

"One of the first tasks would be to move up the date, to not wait until March for the inter-parliamentary meeting," DÃÂ*az said in a telephone interview in Mexico City.

Mexican congressmen will seek support from legislators across Latin America to pressure the U.S. to drop plans to expand the fence, DÃÂ*az said.

President Vicente Fox has lobbied the U.S. to approve a guest worker program that allows Mexicans to live and work in the U.S. temporarily, a program not included in the House bill.

"International public opinion is important to induce decisions different from the simple decision to criminalize immigration," DÃÂ*az said.

About 400,000 Mexicans cross into the U.S. each year, according the United Nations, to seek jobs that