Posted on 03/03/2004 5:54:37 PM PST by RickofEssex
Fox says immigration on agenda of visit with Bush
MEXICO CITY -- President Vicente Fox said Tuesday that he plans to hammer out more details of a guest worker program for Mexicans in the United States when he meets with President Bush at his Crawford ranch this week.
"The initiatives are there, and we have to keep on working," Fox said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle and other Texas newspapers. "The purpose of this visit is to follow up on the proposal."
Fox said the issues of Mexicans on death row in the United States and his nation's water debt to Texas may also be discussed during his meetings with Bush on Friday and Saturday.
Since he assumed the presidency in December 2000, Fox has been pushing for an agreement to legalize the status of some of the estimated 5 million undocumented Mexicans in the United States. But after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, Washington put immigration issues on the back burner while focusing on the war against terrorism.
Discussions finally moved forward in January, when Bush announced a plan to give renewable three-year visas to immigrants with jobs in the United States.
"We have to keep this debate going," Fox said.
In their talks about immigration, Fox and Bush are expected to also discuss a plan under which Mexicans who are apprehended after illegally entering the United States would be deported to their hometowns instead of being dropped along the border.
In a visit to Mexico last month, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said such a repatriation proposal would discourage migrants from immediately trying to cross the border again and would thus save lives. Hundreds of migrants have died along the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years.
Fox said the repatriation proposal would be acceptable only if it was voluntary and did not violate laws guaranteeing freedom of movement.
"Mexico is totally against anything that violates human rights," Fox said in the interview with the Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, the San Antonio Express-News and the Austin American-Statesman.
Another controversial issue expected to be discussed in Crawford is Mexico's water debt to the United States. Under a 1944 water-sharing treaty, Mexico is to deliver about 350,000 acre-feet of water to the United States from its Rio Grande tributaries each year. After falling behind on payments in the 1990s, Mexico accumulated a debt of about 1.3 million acre-feet. An acre-foot of water would flood an acre of land one foot deep.
Geronimo Gutierrez, undersecretary for North American affairs at the Foreign Relations Department, said Tuesday that Mexico may offer an extra 90,000 acre-feet per year on top of its full annual payment. However, this falls short of demands made by Texas officials. During a visit to Mexico last month, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs said she asked the Mexican government for an extra payment of 700,000 acre-feet this year.
Fox said the issue of Mexicans on death row is also likely to come up this weekend.
Mexico has asked the World Court to investigate whether 51 Mexicans on death row in the United States were denied their right to legal help from the Mexican government. The court, which has no power to enforce its verdicts, ruled that the executions should be stayed pending its final decision.
I'll tell you why. It's because Americans do want the jobs. They just do not want to work for the slave wages that these Mexicans accept. They are driving down wages and draining our support structures.
Comparative advantage is fine when you're all working in the same economic structure. Haven't you noticed? There's quite a gap between the per capita income of the Mexico and the U.S.
Oh, sorry! I forgot. Vinnie says we are working for a common system somewhere in the middle between Mexico and the U.S.
So...are you really Iberian or maybe just another illegal alien cheer leader? Just curious.
Okay! And what about the MEChA boys on the college campus all over this country. When they say they intend to take part of the United States, am I to assume that they are not my enemy?
We seem to be deporting Haitians and I think we could be sure they would want the job. Not all Mexican immigrants are here working --- a large portion are here collecting welfare handouts. There are other kinds of immigrants who would come for jobs --- all kinds of Chinese, Africans, and so on --- but why deals with the oligarchs of Mexico?
Try anywhere in the 3rd world. The question should be why we allow a 3rd world country which is our enemy and has a historical chip on its shoulder to flood our borders with its castoffs.
HUH??
The reason Fox is going as far as he is -- instead of being told to pond salt -- is precisely bceause Dubya has encouraged him and given hope that ALL is "possible."
Fox said the issue of Mexicans on death row is also likely to come up this weekend.
See?? He even thinks U.S. justice is negotiable.
Your people? You own them? How come I don't have any people?
A) Because these people have NO official authorization. Come back IF and WHEN you are stamped with identification though the PROPER channels.
B) Because it is MY country, and WE have laws. Thus deportation is preferable over a sanctioned illegal invasion and anarchy.
The Mexican is coming! The Mexican is coming!
Mexican illegal aliens, along with all other illegal aliens, are lawbreakers. They may not be our enemies, but they are still lawbreakers.
I don't believe in the word "hispanic", hispanic-Americans --- those descendents of the Spaniards who have lived in the SW for longer than it was the USA are certainly not our enemy. Mexicans --- especially that government are not necessarily our friends. Ask the family of Enrique Camarena how friendly the Mexicans are.
Vote for Bush and kill it a bit slower (and with better judges on the way down).
Why? Because they're in the U.S. illegally, that's why.
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