 MEXICAN GOVERNMENT BEGINS NEGOTIATING IMMIGRATION ISSUES WITH BUSH ADMINISTRATION
The Mexican government is urging the Bush administration to allow more Mexicans to enter the US legally and to legalize the status of those already working in the US. In a meeting last Wednesday, Mexican representatives presented the proposal to US officials, hoping that the promises made during the February meeting between Mexican President Vicente Fox and US President George W. Bush to improve the cross-border relationship between the two countries will lead to an easing of immigration restrictions.
The meeting was between high level representatives of both countries, with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Attorney General John Ashcroft representing the US and Foreign Minister Jorge G. Castaneda and Interior Minister Santiago Creel representing Mexico. The Mexican representatives presented four primary issues: legalizing the status of Mexican workers in the US, border safety, increasing the number of immigrant visas available to Mexicans, and creating a guest worker program.
Both Bush and Fox have different attitudes toward immigration than their predecessors. In the past, Mexico has considered undocumented immigration to the US to be a concern only for the US, but Fox has made it a concern for Mexico. For example, at the meeting Mexican representatives pledged to work to decrease the number of third country nationals who enter the US through Mexico. Bush has also encouraged new approaches to immigration, informed in large part by his experience as Governor of Texas. The new relationship between Bush and Fox is the first time presidents of the two countries have discussed immigration at such a high level and in such detail.
These factors make the possibility of real immigration reform seem more likely than it has in years. Support for a guest worker program has developed among a segment of Republicans in Congress, led by Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX). Later this spring he plans on introducing legislation to create such a program. While there is disagreement about the final form such a program should have, overall support for the idea is widespread.
The Mexican government senses their opportunity and plans on working toward smaller goals, rather than seek a general amnesty. The focus is not an amnesty for workers, but a program where they could “regularize” their status, ensuring that they will receive the full protection of US labor and civil rights laws. According to Castaneda, Mexican representatives were able to discuss all their concerns, and Powell and Ashcroft were “extraordinarily receptive.” Officials hope to have concrete proposals prepared for Bush and Fox to discuss at a summit in Canada later this month.
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