July 9, 2007

Mexican Reactions to the U.S. Rejection of the Immigration Bill

Frontera NorteSur

Widely condemned across Mexico’s political spectrum, the US Senate’s failure to pass an immigration reform bill has touched off reactions that could influence the course of Mexican politics as well as US-Mexico bilateral relations.

In the wake of the recent vote, legislators from the opposition (PRI) demanded that the administration of President Felipe Calderon adopt a more aggressive defense of undocumented Mexicans in the United States.

Ricardo Garcia Cervantes, the chairman of the North American Foreign Relations Committee in the Mexican Senate, contended that Mexico’s federal government “HAS TO DO ITS JOB" AND GET THE IMMIGRATION QUESTION BACK ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA BETWEEN THE US AND MEXICO.

At the same time, the PRI members of the lower house of the Mexican Congress sent a letter to President Calderon, asking him to DEMAND THAT WASHINGTON HALT THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW BORDER WALLS. The PRI representatives proposed the possibility of WITHDRAWING MEXICO'S AMBASSADOR TO THE US if no positive response is received from the George W. Bush administration.

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