Govt to Push Migrant Deal

El Universal Online ^ | 10/22/2003 | El Universal

[texastoo]

President Fox and U.S. counterpart Bush arranged for officials to hold immigration talks in Washington.

Immigration policy will be at the top of the agenda when U.S. and Mexican officials meet in Washington next month the Mexican government announced Monday.

Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez said he would meet with U.S.Secretary of State Colin Powell on Nov. 13 to "outline a timetable and very concrete actions" regarding migration policies.

Derbez told reporters the meeting was arranged when President Vicente Fox and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush, met at the Asia-Pacific summit in Bangkok.

There was no breakthrough in that meeting. But Derbez said it served to underscore that talks on immigration face new challenges after the Sept. 11,2001, terrorist attacks against the United States.

"They talked about first operating within a different type of an agreement, not to talk about a general accord but to talk about putting the puzzle together creating the necessary structure so that we can solve the problems little by little," he said.

Derbez said Bush also invited Fox to visit his Crawford, Texas, ranch soon, although no date.

For his part, Interior Minister Santiago Creel qualified as "good news" the inclusion of the migration agenda of the upcoming meeting.

At the meeting, Creel said, Mexico plans to advocate the normalization of the migration status of undocumented Mexicans living in the United States.

The Fox administration will also urge Washington to increase the number of visas granted to Mexico to boost guest worker programs and bolster protection for the human rights of undocumented immigrants in the United States.

[texastoo]

"Revolting..."

You said it.

[texastoo]

I hope this is window dressing. However, I think we are going to get amnesty shoved down our throats piece by piece. As Sabertooh put it, this is a quilt not a puzzle.

[FreeAtlanta]

tanks, claymores, snipers

[WRhine]

Do you get the sense that a BIG PUSH for Amnesty(ies) is under way? My bet is that our politicos will try to ram through what Fox wants right before or during the Holidays when most Americans are distracted. It's becoming pretty obvious now. Bush know he can't sign an Amnesty right before the election.

[Barnacle]

...President Vicente Fox and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush...

Does this speak volumes?

[Barnacle]

Bush know he can't sign an Amnesty right before the election.

He can if he calls it by a different name. And, he will if he thinks he’ll get a net benefit.

How do you say, "Bend over." in Spanish?

[appalachian_dweller]

undocumented immigrants = illegal aliens = threat to national security

Round them up, ship them back, close the borders!

[DumpsterDiver]

Looking American journalists squarely in the eye, [Jorge] Castaneda said, "It's the whole enchilada or nothing; we can't slice it one piece at a time." source

Jorge Bush - It's yours for the taking, amigo!

[AAABEST]

[Paulie]

It's too late. Even if the likes of Tancredo, Buchanan, or Keyes gets in there in 2008, the damage will be irreparable. By damage I mean, among other things, that our heritage will be all but lost. Adams, Jefferson, Henry, Franklin,...those names and the American spirit they represent will be rendered meaningless. Chances are they'll be labled as 'terrorists' of some sort.

And for a clue as to who's going to pay the price for this, just take a gander in the mirror. My advice - you best make up your mind to either become very rich or very poor. It's going to be hell for those in the middle.

[WRhine]

"...President Vicente Fox and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush..."

Does this speak volumes?

I noticed that too. I guess Mexico doesn’t think much of the Office of the U.S. Presidency. Can't say I blame them given how our politicians jump to every demand from Fox and his fellow banditos. It's all too obvious that Mexico has lost all respect for America. This of course is the natural result after decades of appeasement.

[WRhine]

LOL. All too true.

[act2]

U.S. studies air pollution from Mexican trucks



By Joe Cantlupe
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
2:47 p.m. October 20, 2003

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration still hopes to open the United States to Mexican truck traffic sometime next year. But first, officials will have to determine how much the incoming traffic will affect air pollution.

The government is responding to a federal appeals court's ruling last April ordering the environmental impact study, which the Bush administration said was not necessary. But environmental groups said the study was needed because the trucks will worsen American air pollution.

"We thought we had done an adequate environmental study, but apparently in the court decision they told us we need a more thorough analysis," said Suzy Bohnert, spokeswoman for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. "We're going to proceed as if everything is OK."

The study, estimated at $1.8 million, officials said Monday, will be completed within the next 12 to 18 months. A series of environmental assessments is slated, including one in San Diego on Wednesday. It is scheduled for the San Diego Concourse, 202 C St.

Another public hearing is scheduled for California, set for Los Angeles on Oct. 23 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa St.

In April, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the DOT's petition for a review hearing. The appeals court ruled that the Bush administration violated environmental law when it announced last November that it was opening U.S. highways to long-haul trucks from Mexico to comply with the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The court has told the government that it must complete environmental impact studies. As a result, the DOT must study the impact of the increased air pollution on border states and communities. If necessary, the government also must develop plans to reduce potential harm, such as the pollutants, from the truck traffic.

"Places like Houston and Los Angeles already suffer from strangling smog," said Joan Claybrook of the Public Citizen advocacy group. "The federal government should be obeying the laws designed to curtail pollution."

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit that forced the government to conduct the environmental impact studies were Public Citizen; the California Labor Federation; the California Trucking Association; the Environmental Law Foundation; and the Teamsters. The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Planning and Conservation League also were petitioners.

Public Citizen also expects to express its concerns during the upcoming meetings about what it terms "large loopholes" in the existing federal plans for the more polluting Mexican trucks, said Laura MacCleery, counsel for auto safety and regulatory affairs with the group.

Among other things, the government lacks proper rules for transporting hazardous waste, she said.

More than 3,500 Mexican trucking firms have applied to operate in the commercial zones, which extend about 75 miles from the border to San Diego County.

At least 491 Mexican trucking companies have applied to travel beyond the commercial zone.

[meenie]

Private Citizen would like to suggest that Fox and Bush trade jobs. The Fox would do a better job guarding the henhouse on this side of border.

[WRhine]

He can if he calls it [Amnesty] by a different name. And, he will if he thinks he’ll get a net benefit.

Yep. The Bush Administration has already conjured up a bevy of names in their past attempt to run an Amnesty through Congress (and their endless trial balloons). The terms are "Earned Legalization", "Earned Regularization", "Temporary Farm Workers Visas", "Family Reunification", "Employer/Employee Matching"...to name a few. And I'm sure the Wordsmiths in the Bush Administration are coming up with new terms to obfuscate Illegal Alien Amnesties as we speak.

[pawdoggie]

How do you say, "Bend over." in Spanish?

The translator says "curva encima", but that doesn't sound right (by my two years of Espanol).

[Joe Hadenuf]

Yup, they are getting real creative with their amnesty terms.....

[texastoo]

After they all get amnestied, we will all be forced into universal health care. Right now the illegals are covered with emergency medicaid but won't be elegible for it after amnesty. Not only will we be giving up our soverienty, we will be giving up the greatest health care system the world has ever known.

All of this for a d$mn vote.

[Rockitz]

W must have gotten the message.

We're pissed in California!

[exmarine]

I hope this is window dressing. However, I think we are going to get amnesty shoved down our throats piece by piece. As Sabertooh put it, this is a quilt not a puzzle.

The invasion has already been forced down our throats, and the mass influx continues unabated. This won't change anything, other than possibly increase the influx a little more. I'm done with Republicans - lilly livered cowards (except Tancredo).