Bush meets Mexico’s Fox with immigration in balance
By Alistair Bell
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – U.S. President George W. Bush meets
President Vicente Fox in Mexico this week with doubts hanging
over U.S. immigration reforms both men need to lift their
flagging reputations.
A U.S. Senate panel approved a bill on Monday that would
create a guest worker program sought by Bush, setting up a
battle with Republicans in the House of Representatives who
want tough security measures to dominate immigration reform.
With his job approval rating at the lowest of his
presidency, immigration is a new test of Bush’s political
strength after he lost a fight with fellow Republicans over
plans to have an Arab company run terminals at U.S. ports.
Although the immigration debate still has a long way to
run, any bill seen as favorable to the millions of Mexicans in
the United States would give Fox a much-awaited boost.
Seen in Mexico as a lame-duck president, Fox, who has
failed for five years to convince Washington to allow more
Mexicans to work in the United States legally, welcomed the
guest worker bill’s approval as an important first step.
“I am very happy that we are advancing, I am optimistic,”
he told reporters on Monday night. “This is a good sign and we
must all carry on working.”
Planning to retire to his ranch in central Mexico in
December, Fox has one eye on his legacy and would love to sign
off with a victory on immigration.
“It’ll mean a lot for him personally,” said Andres
Rozental, a former adviser to the Fox government on foreign
policy.
“Politically, it is probably something he still won’t be
able to capitalize on, maybe in the history books,” he said.
Fox and Bush will meet on Thursday and Friday in the
Caribbean resort of Cancun to discuss the immigration bill,
which has sparked big protests by immigrants in U.S. cities.
AMERICAN IDENTITY
Bush reminded Americans on Monday that immigration had
forged their country.
“No one should pretend that immigrants are a threat to
American identity, because immigrants have shaped America’s
identity,” he said.
The U.S. public is divided between those who favor curbing
illegal immigration with tighter border security and tougher
enforcement and those who say it is essential to bring some of
the estimated 12 million illegal workers out of the shadows
with a comprehensive overhaul.
Immigrant groups, labor unions and some business groups are
pushing for broad reform, including a guest worker program.
But some conservative Republicans, who normally back Bush,
say that would be a form of amnesty and would reward people for
illegal behavior.
Tough new proposals from some members of Congress include
making it a felony to be in the United States illegally,
cracking down on employers and others who help illegal
immigrants and plans to build a fence along part of the border
with Mexico.
Many in Mexico underestimate the concern in the United
States about border security after the September 11 attacks,
said Gordon Hanson of the University of California, San Diego.
“The U.S. does not understand the sensitivities that Mexico
has about the immigration issue and Mexico does not understand
the paranoia that the United States has about the immigration
issue,” he said.
Most people in Mexico have a friend or relative in the
United States, either legally or illegally, and their welfare
is a top concern for Mexican governments.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will also join the
Cancun summit, where Bush hopes to solve a long-simmering
dispute with Canada over softwood lumber.
“I’d like to get the issue solved,” Bush told a round-table
interview with Canadian and Mexican journalists. The interview
took place on Monday but a transcript was only released for
publication on Tuesday.
Canada ships $6 billion in softwood lumber such as spruce,
fir and pine to the United States each year. Washington has
slapped duties on the imports, saying Ottawa’s below-market
logging rates represent an unfair subsidy. Canada denies the
claims and accuses the United States of being protectionist.