Immigration plan cheered in Mexico

Uncertainty about final outcome remains

10:55 AM CDT on Saturday, May 19, 2007

By LAURENCE ILIFF / The Dallas Morning News
liliff@hotmail.com

MEXICO CITY – The Mexican government, opposition politicians and analysts on Friday mostly applauded the comprehensive immigration accord reached by Senate Republicans and Democrats and the White House but also crossed their fingers that it will become law.

The proposal would allow millions of immigrants to become legal after paying a fine but also would intensify the current crackdown against illegal border crossers.

VĂ*ctor AvilĂ©s, spokesman for the Foreign Relations Ministry, called the proposal a positive step and expressed hope that the coming negotiations in Washington will result in a new immigration law.

"The Mexican government considers it positive that this initiative opens discussion in the Senate to debate the elements of a substantive immigration reform through practical and realistic solutions," Mr. Avilés said in a statement late Thursday.

The ministry did not comment on specifics of the proposal, including tougher enforcement and construction of a wall along sections of the border, which Mexico opposes.

"The Mexican government has been in permanent communication with distinct actors in the debate and has expressed its points of view on the subject, in a climate of respect for the U.S. legislative process," the statement said.

In the Mexican media, the immigration proposal received light coverage given the daily warring among drug trafficking groups, security forces and the military. But it was portrayed in a mostly positive light.

On Friday, the Mexico City newspaper Reforma used the headline "Ano-o-other immigration plan is launched," in reference to the myriad proposals laid out over the last decade.

But a columnist for the newspaper, Manuel J. Jáuregi, likened it to a miracle.

"The Virgin of Guadalupe granted half of the miracle, and what's missing is the other half with its approval in the House of Representatives," Mr. Jáuregi wrote.

"For Mexico, this preliminary accord, if it finally becomes law, is a big gift from heaven, equivalent to opening the valve of social pressure that could have worsened the already precarious situation we live in," he said.

In Zacatecas, a major source of migrants to North Texas, a senator for the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution called the accord "a step forward."

"Now comes the debate," Sen. Tomás Torres Mercado told the local newspaper El Sol de Zacatecas. "But from what we can interpret from here is that the overall agreement is signed."

He added that it appears that U.S. lawmakers are considering allowing the families of immigrants to join their newly legal relatives in the United States, a major issue in the U.S. and Mexico.


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