Bush caves to Fox - no US Visit processing for Mexican BCC visa holders

Frontera Tijuana ^ | 03/05/04 | Mexican Wire Services

[Pa' fuera]

More than 10 million mexicans with border crossing cards will not be processed when they enter the United States for visits of less that 72 hours or visits that do not extend beyond the 40 kilometer border region, announces Homeland Security under-secretary Asa Hutchinson.

Giving testimony before the Government Reform Comitte in the House of Representatives, Hutchinson specified that BCC (Border Crossing Card) holders will be photographed and fingerprinted, like other visitors, if they spend more than 72 hours in the US or travel beyond the 25-mile border region.

“The BCC already incorporates the biographic and biometric data of the visitor, he added, by warning that the card carrier is using it in a manner different from its purpose.”

“Those carriers who use the card as a visa by traveling beyond the border region and stay longer than 3 days in the US – will be processed (through US Visit) in the Secondary Inspection area, like other visitors are”, explained Hutchinson.

If the use of the BCC is as a local pass, the holder will not be processed.

The US Visit program, which began to function last year, and was installed in 115 airports and 14 ports on January 5, gathers the biometric data of visitors to the US to verify their identity and compares the data on the visa with the data integrated into a system that eventually will house millions of foreign visitors’ photos and fingerprints.

Hutchison stated that there are already numerous security measures in place on both the Canadian and Mexican borders.

The system was put into place as a consequence of the September 11 terrorist attacks, when extremist islamics who had overstayed their visas hijacked four passenger aircraft and were able to crash three of them into the twin towers of New York and the Pentagon in Washington. Some three thousand people died in the attacks.

The exemption is considered as a gesture to president Vicente Fox, who this weekend will visit President Bush in his Crawford, Texas ranch. It is also seen as a measure to facilitate trans-border commerce.

The Border Crossing Cards are normally given to people who live in the border zone once a criminal background check has been performed and after the individual has been interviewed and screened by State Department personnel.

The majority have businesses or jobs or need to make quick visits to the US side of the border.

Hutchison also informed that Homeland Security will implement pilot programs this year at the 50 busiest cross-border locations, using machine readers of the biometric information contained on BCCs and visas. These programs have the objective of improving border administration and to expedite the crossing of the BCC and biometric visa holders.

[hedgetrimmer]

CITY OF MEXICO. - President Vicente Fox will today arrive Friday at the Crawford farm, in Texas, with the objective to impel a migratory agreement with his homologous one of the United States, George W. Bush, that opens the doors to the regularización of about five million of Mexican which they reside and they work without documents in the American Union.

The goal of President Fox is to obtain, gradually, benefits nongranted to these connacionales, that contribute about 154 billion dollars Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) of the United States. One calculates in addition, that about 14 billion dollars enters every year Mexico by concept of remittances.

For the Government of Mexico a reasonable agreement in the migratory subject is high-priority. Few are the Government and Chiefs of State that have met with Bush in their familiar farm of Crawford, Texas. Between the visitors they are, among others, prime minister of the Great Britain and Italy, Tony Blair and Silvio Berlusconi, thus like the presidents of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and of Spain, Jose Maria Aznar

http://www.informador.com.mx/informa/05pr01a.htm

Translated from spanish.

[hedgetrimmer]

Fox to raise delicate themes at Bush ranch

Photograph by : CR Files


Story by : CR Staff

Mexican President Vicente Fox will meet with his counterpart George W. Bush at the U.S. president's ranch in Crawford, Texas this weekend.

The meeting seems a sign that bilateral relations are returning to their pre-September 11 coziness but few major surprises are anticipated.

Fox and his aides have said they will pressure Bush on immigration issues and Bush will likely remind Fox that Mexico's commitment to the "war on terror" is still needed and appreciated.

Progress has been made on both issues recently. Bush has proposed a program that stops just shy of amnesty for illegal aliens while the Mexican government has heeded U.S. requests to turn back or cancel flights that have been deemed terrorist threats -- despite the criticism this cost Fox at home.

The Mexican government even investigated a number of cancelled and delayed flights in December and January for real risks and found no evidence of potential terrorism.
Fox's undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Geronimo Gutierrez, said in a press conference March 2 that Fox will be prepared to discuss a number of delicate themes with Bush, including an ongoing dispute over water distribution on the border with Texas and executions of Mexican nationals in the United States.

At Mexico's request, the International Court in The Hague asked the United States to stay the executions of three Mexicans on death row until it had reviewed a case where the Mexicans in question were subjected to rights violations guaranteed under international treaties.

The United States has continued legal proceedings against the Mexicans on death row and recently set an execution date for one of them.

Fox and Bush, both portrayed as down-to-earth cowboys at home, started their administrations with close ties. It seemed one of their first joint achievements would be an immigration accord for the four million Mexicans living illegally in the United States but the September 11 attacks gave Washington other international priorities. Mexico also fell out of favor with Bush for not supporting the war on Iraq and Fox cancelled a visit to Texas in protest of an execution of a Mexican national.

http://www.guadalajarareporter.com/fullcover.cfm?id=2

[Pa' fuera]

The goal of President Fox is to obtain, gradually, benefits nongranted to these connacionales.

this is essentially Vicente's plan to help his country's poor - he has no domestic plan.

[DumpsterDiver]

...Fox said he would discuss plans with Bush to unite North American nations in "a united bloc to confront the challenges of other regions of the world."

He said the first decade of the North American Free Trade Agreement had been successful, but added, "we need to promote new initiative that will bring us great integration and greater growth of our economies."

http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_5458.shtml

[1rudeboy]

waah

[hedgetrimmer]

This initiative is the FTAA,which is due to be implemented next year,and is a sovereignty killer for the US. It makes the Organization of American States, OAS,our new government. Goals of the OAS and FTAA include the crowning of a hemispheric government on the same level as the EU. No borders and rich countries have to pay to bring poor countries economies up.

[k2blader]

More than 10 million mexicans with border crossing cards will not be processed when they enter the United States for visits of less that 72 hours or visits that do not extend beyond the 40 kilometer border region, announces Homeland Security under-secretary Asa Hutchinson.

I don't get it. How do security officials know when an unprocessed Mexican *has* "visited" longer than 72 hours or farther than the 40 kilometer border region?

The majority have businesses or jobs or need to make quick visits to the US side of the border.

Do they have *legal* businesses/jobs on the US side of the border?

[DumpsterDiver]

This initiative is the FTAA, which is due to be implemented next year,and is a sovereignty killer for the US. No borders and rich countries have to pay to bring poor countries economies up.

Isn't Canada also a part of this? I've never seen any articles about what they think of this "plan".

[Pa' fuera]

I don't get it. How do security officials know when an unprocessed Mexican *has* "visited" longer than 72 hours or farther than the 40 kilometer border region?

they don't know, unless the visitor has checked in at secondary inspection and solicited an extra permit to go beyond the time and/or region. If they don't check in and solicit the permit, then the official won't know. If they get caught outside the border region without the extra permit, I'm sure there's some punishment. If they get caught, that is.

[Don Joe]

Nitpick nitpick nitpick.

You don't like the unpleasant facts he points out, so you attack him.

Tsk, tsk, tsk. Bad form, Mr. Shift Lever, bad form.

[Don Joe]

He continues to thumb his nose at his base.

One particularly vociferous poster has informed us that Bush doesn't need the base, and implies that the base is largely comprised of people who have never even voted Republican.

An air of the surreal is descending upon this election season. I don't even want to think about where we'll be a few months from now.

[k2blader]

Thanks for the info and for posting this article. I think this kind of pandering to Fox and Mexico is dead wrong.

BTW, I see nothing wrong with your headline.

[Don Joe]

this is essentially Vicente's plan to help his country's poor - he has no domestic plan.

In the racist dichotomy that is Mexico, the "domestic plan" has long consisted of the Spanish aristocracy driving the Mestizo underclass across the border.

Think of it as a "kinder, gentler" form of "ethnic cleansing."

[viaveritasvita]

How do security officials know when an unprocessed Mexican *has* "visited" longer than 72 hours or farther than the 40 kilometer border region?"

They don't. Sickening, eh?

[PRND21]

I just pointed out that he used a false headline. His point is illegals. The article is not.

But thanks for chiming in.

[Don Joe]

I don't get it. How do security officials know when an unprocessed Mexican *has* "visited" longer than 72 hours or farther than the 40 kilometer border region?

They ask him, of course.

The security apparatus operates on the honor system. For example, at entry points, they ask if you're affiliated with any terrorist organizations. If you say yes, they will deny you entry, keeping the country safe from terrorists.

[Don Joe]

I just pointed out that he used a false headline. His point is illegals. The article is not.

But thanks for chiming in.

And I pointed out that you're nitpicking.

But thanks for confirming it.

[Missouri]

Ping.

[PRND21]

He was dishonest, I called him on it. Nitpicking? I guess the truth isn't important to you either.

[Pa' fuera]

So that we have complete transparency and clarity here, the true, unadulterated headline read:

Relajan fichaje en cruce

screening relaxed at border crossing

although there are a myriad of ways this can be interpreted, which I'm sure in short order will be pointed out.