Hayworth to Bush: Tell President Fox to butt out

BISBEE — As Congress has taken up the issue of immigration reform, the Mexican government of President Vicente Fox has been anything but a disinterested bystander.

When the House of Representatives approved a bill in December that would have built 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border and made it a felony to reside illegally in the U.S., Fox denounced the measure as shameful. His foreign minister, Luis Ernesto Derbez, went further and called it stupid and underhanded.

After thousands of marchers took to the streets of U.S. cities last week to protest the pending immigration legislation, Fox’s spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, said the demonstrations showed the imminent need for an immigration accord that meets the interests of both the United States and Mexico.

And when the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill Monday that offered both a guest-worker program and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented residents, Aguilar said the bill was “headed in the right direction, but from Mexico’s point of view it doesn’t resolve the entire problem.”

Such statements have so angered U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth, a Republican from Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District, he wrote a letter to President Bush asking him to tell Fox and Derbez to butt out of U.S. internal affairs when they meet this week in Cancun.

“I respectfully request that you publicly make it clear to both men that their clumsy, over-the-top rhetoric about internal U.S. political matters pertaining to our border security is unwarranted and unacceptable,” he wrote.

According to George Grayson, a professor of government and Mexico expert at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., Hayworth has a point — at least in asking Mexico to practice what it preaches.

“The Mexicans have elevated hypocrisy from an art form to an exact science,” he said.

Mexico has long been sensitive to foreign intervention in its domestic matters. In fact, Mexican law on the matter is so strict that foreign nationals can be detained and deported for taking part in a political rally.

This week, after Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez demanded that his image be removed from ad spots — placed by Fox’s conservative National Action Party — that tried to tie him to leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the federal election agency opened an investigation into whether Chavez had broken Mexico’s law against foreign interference in elections.

And when U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza last year criticized Mexico’s ability to control drug-related violence in the country’s northern border region, Fox lashed out, saying, “Mexico’s government cannot permit any foreign government to judge or express itself regarding policy actions undertaken to deal with its problems.”

Grayson said such statements make Fox’s comments on U.S. immigration law untenable.

Hayworth would like Bush to convey a similar message directly to Fox and Derbez.

“Please let them know that they should henceforth refrain from making these kinds of reckless remarks,” he wrote, “and that they should stop meddling in our internal political affairs.”

Again, here are my ten points that is needed minimally. I don't know what is in the law, but I'm sure they stole it from me:
1. All illegals must register under some federal identity program.
2. All must be fingerprinted and entered in a worker database.
3. All must show a record of "paid" health insurance policy.
4. All must show proof of paid annual auto insurance.
5. All must show worker's comp insurance.
6. All must show appropriate, valid drivers license.
7. All must register all family members in the states.
8. All must pass some basic english speaking skills.
9. All must pass a bilateral crime database exchange shared between the U.S. and mexico to ferret out the criminals.
10. All must pay an initial fee to re-validate their status (after all the above are satisfied). This fee is $6,500 per family member, initially. $6,500 x 14 million illegals. This is equal to 9 trillion dollars and we can retire the national debt overnight.

Like I said, you heard it here first. Besides, as Congressman Sullivan (R-OK) said, we truly do not have enough buses to send back 14 million people. Unless you use 100 cruise liners that could carry 1,000 people equals 100,000 people, times 140 trips. Thats a lot of trips down the coast. Of course, it could be an endeavor to rebuild new orleans.

Update 16: Bush Pushes Congress to OK Immigrants

By NEDRA PICKLER , 03.30.2006, 09:22 PM

With Mexican President Vicente Fox at his side, President Bush gave Congress a long-distance push Thursday to open the United States to immigrant workers who have been sneaking across the borders to fill low-paying jobs.

"We don't want people sneaking into our country that are going to do jobs that Americans won't do," Bush said at the end of a private meeting with Fox, where the issue was on top of the agenda. "We want them coming in in an orderly way, which will take pressure off both our borders."

The meeting between the Mexican and U.S. leaders came on the first day of a two-day North American summit that also includes Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Harper, meeting with Bush for the first time since taking office two months ago with the promise of building stronger ties with Washington, said the two countries are moving past their "tension" over Iraq.

Still, he took a combative stance on their long-standing dispute over U.S. tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber, saying Canada would "pursue all its legal options" if he and Bush can't work out an agreement.

But it was the immigration debate, which has dominated the U.S. Senate this week, that took center stage in talks conducted in a beachfront resort surrounded by bikini-clad spring breakers. A new immigration law could affect as many as 6 million Mexicans living illegally in the United States - about half of all those who are estimated to have sneaked in from other countries seeking new opportunities they can't find at home.

Bush is pushing for a guest worker program that would let foreigners in low-paying jobs stay temporarily, which Fox says is a good first step toward some form of legal status for all Mexican illegal immigrants.

The issue has united the two leaders, whose friendship dates back to Bush's time as Texas governor but was strained over Fox's objections to the war in Iraq. But immigration has divided Bush's Republican party, with business interests who want cheap labor battling conservatives who want a get-tough policy against illegal immigrants.

Fox suggested the issue is largely out of their hands now.

"The matter is in the Congress of the United States and that is where the decision will be made," Fox said. "It is no longer between President Bush and President Fox."

But both leaders were clearly trying to sway the debate.

"I told the president there is a legislative process that's going forward," Bush said. "And that it may look cumbersome to some, but that's how our democracy works."

Bush added, "I'm optimistic that we can get a bill done."

The summit included plenty of time to be neighborly. The three leaders dressed casually in open-collared shirts and strolled together among the ancient Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza before sitting down for more intense one-on-one meetings. Fox planned a lavish dinner for his guests.

After spending the morning sightseeing, Bush had a few hours off before the formal meetings began. He used part of the time to work up a sweat in his hotel's gym.

There was tight security despite the fun-loving atmosphere generated by college students who have flocked to Cancun for spring break. Gunboats patrolled the turquoise waters off Bush's spa resort, and fencing kept out all but hotel guests. "I'd like to make sure you work more than you play," Bush joked to reporters.

The trilateral meeting was expected to be Fox's last, since he is set to leave office this year because of term limits. Bush lauded Fox for stabilizing the Mexican economy and improving the net worth of his people.

"That's important for the American economy as well," Bush said. "The more net worth there is in Mexico, the more likely it is the Mexican may be wanting to buy a U.S. product. And vice versa, by the way."

In his meeting with Harper, Bush sought to make the newly elected leader look good at home, making it a point to stress how hard the Canadian leader had pressed him on the softwood lumber issue. Harper "made an emphatic case," Bush said.

"I appreciate his steely resolve to get something done," the president said. "I appreciate your pushing."

But Bush didn't give Harper much of substance, saying only that "my intent is to negotiate in good faith and a timely fashion to resolve this issue."

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