Thread: President of Mexico coming to New Brunswick, NJ next week

President of Mexico coming to New Brunswick next week
By RICHARD KHAVKINE • STAFF WRITER • September 19, 2008


NEW BRUNSWICK —President Felipe Calderon of Mexico will be visiting the city Thursday afternoon, city officials have confirmed.

"He is coming to meet members of the administration and the community," city spokesman Bill Bray said. About 200 people are expected to attend an event at Lord Stirling School, Bray said.

While no official announcement has been made by Mexican officials, a representative at the Mexican Consulate in New York said the prospect of a visit by Calderon to Central Jersey is being actively discussed.

"We have been working on that possibility but I cannot confirm the event," the representative said. Calderon is expected at the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week.

New Brunswick is thought to be home to one of the largest Mexican populations in the tri-state area. In March, the consulate set up a "Consulate on Wheels" at Middlesex County College's New Brunswick Center, at the corner of New Street and Joyce Kilmer Avenue, to meet what officials said was an overwhelming demand for documents.

The mobile office, funded by the Mexican government, was set in motion in February after Calderon saw firsthand the multiple delays at the consulate during a visit there.

Bray said Calderon had expressed an interest in visiting New Jersey, which is a significant trade partner with the Mexico.

Total trade with Mexico totaled $2.8 billion last year, making it the state's fourth-largest trading partner, Bray said.

"Obviously his visit gives New Brunswick the opportunity to present itself as a part of this international trade and it's our hope that our city can benefit from opportunities that could develop from this," he said.

Calderon, who took office in December 2006 after a controversial election, has in the past been highly critical of the U.S. government's policy toward immigrants. He has several times called on Congress to expedite changes in immigration law that would grant legal status to Mexican workers living here illegally.

Calderon's visit would be the second by a world leader to New Brunswick in a less than a week. Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma is scheduled to speak at the Rutgers Student Center on Sunday afternoon.
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbc ... /newsfront

Calderon, who took office in December 2006 after a controversial election, has in the past been highly critical of the U.S. government's policy toward immigrants. He has several times called on Congress to expedite changes in immigration law that would grant legal status to Mexican workers living here illegally.

We honestly don't need this distinguished government official from a foreign nation influencing our laws or critizing the enforcement of the laws. Go home and fix your own country, Calderon.