U.S. President George W. Bush (L) smiles with Mexico's President Felipe Calderon during an arrival ceremony at the Hacienda Temozon in Temozon Sur, March 13, 2007. REUTERS/Larry Downing
Posted on 03/13/2007 6:58:12 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
MERIDA, Mexico - President Bush sought to soothe strained ties with Mexico on Tuesday by promising to prod Congress to overhaul tough U.S. immigration policies. But Mexican President Felipe Calderon criticized U.S. plans for a 700-mile border fence and said Bush must do more to curb American drug appetites.
Mexico was the last stop on Bush's five-nation Latin American tour, and the one where the political stakes seemed the highest.
Bush walked a high wire: He wants to improve frayed ties over immigration and drug trafficking and the Iraq war, but without alienating supporters back home, particularly Republican lawmakers advocating stiff penalties against undocumented workers.
The president also was distracted by problems at home.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales acknowledged mistakes were made in the firing of eight federal prosecutors, and that the White House was involved in discussions of who would be dismissed and when.
This was Bush's first meeting with Calderon since the Harvard-educated Mexican conservative took office Dec. 1 after a razor-thin victory.
They clashed, though gently.
Welcoming Bush to a restored hacienda on the sun-drenched Yucatan Peninsula, Calderon said it would be hard to reduce Mexico's drug production while demand remains high in the United States.
"We need the collaboration and the active participation of our neighbor," Calderon said.
Bush and Calderon — both pro-business conservatives — acknowledged their differences and vowed to work together.
Calderon said it was time for a fresh start to "direct our relationship toward a path of mutual prosperity."
"Geography has made our countries neighbors, but the choice we've made for each other is a choice for freedom," said Bush. "And that choice has made us friends."
Happy talk aside, relations between the two neighbors have worsened since Bush last year signed a law calling for construction of fencing along the long border the two countries share. Calderon has ridiculed the fence — a mix of physical and high-tech barriers — and likens it to the Berlin Wall.
Calderon argued that the fence would do little to stem illegal migration. But he also praised Bush for pushing for immigration reforms, and acknowledged that improving economic conditions and generating more jobs in Mexico "is the only way in order to truly solve the migratory issue."
It is questionable whether the full 700-mile fence will be built. A bill authorizing the fence did not come with any new funding, and the $1.2 billion that Congress previously approved is not enough. A 14-mile stretch under construction in the San Diego area is estimated to cost $126.5 million.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has noted that border officials say it may be unnecessary to build all 700 miles of the fence.
Bush has been having a hard time lining up support from his own Republican Party for his proposals to establish a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for some of the 12 million undocumented workers already in the United States. He has said he hopes for movement, at least in the Senate, by August, but he faces daunting obstacles.
"In the debate on migration, I remind my fellow citizens that family values do not stop at the Rio Grande River, that there are decent, hardworking honorable citizens of Mexico who want to make a living for their families," Bush said as he stood beside Calderon. "And so, Mr. President, my pledge to you and your government — but, more importantly, the people of Mexico — is I will work as hard as I possibly can to pass comprehensive immigration reform."
Calderon's complaints about the fence marked the second day in a row that Bush drew a rebuke from a host. In Guatemala on Monday, President Oscar Berger complained about roundups in the United States of undocumented Guatemalans.
Presidential counselor Dan Bartlett said such reactions are to be expected. In Mexico and in Guatemala, as in the United States, migration "is a very emotional debate," Bartlett said. He said Bush wasn't taken off guard by the criticisms. Those leaders "are very concerned about their fellow citizens that are living in the United States at this time," Bartlett said.
The meetings resulted in no new agreements. But the two leaders "were direct with each other" both in public and in private, Dan Fisk, a White House adviser on the Western Hemisphere, told reporters. "What the president likes is that President Calderon is square with him."
President Bush and his wife, Laura, toured the nearby Uxmal Ruins, the remains of an ancient sprawling Mayan city.
Security was extremely tight in Merida. Schools were closed. The area around the hotels where Bush and Calderon are staying was guarded by police and surrounded by metal barriers.
The laws may be tough on paper, but the government quite obviously doesn't want to enforce them.
Interesting...
Just who does he think he is trying to serve, us or them? If "family values" are so fricking important to these intruders, why doesn't he tell their own president to do something about them?
It's all crap Mr President, just crap. Please don't insult my intelligence by spouting this drivel again.
$9 million a mile? For a fence? You could build a highway for 9 million a mile.
What BS.
They are dedicated to the fight. They're just not on your side.
If I am elected, I pledge to immediately station two National Guard members per kilometer until the fence can be completed. They will have authority to challenge and fire.
Good gravy, and I voted for this guy FOUR bloomin' times (twice for governor, twice for president)! Even been to Crawford, and bought some silly nonsense like a GW coffee mug and whatnot. Ouch, now I can't even bear to look at his face on tv, thanks to his unbridled devotion to Mexico and granting amnesty to its avalanche of illegals.
If this has taught me anything, it's that I'll never, never, never give any politician my vote, until I'm certain they are 100% solid on borders, sovereignty, and enforcing the bloomin' law. Can't just fall back on the notion that the Republican candidate is automatically deserving of my vote, like I've always tended to do.
Why am i thinking that Mexico should be trying to soothe ties with America??
They've agreed that the McCain-Kennedy bill will be renamed "Reforma Comprensiva de la Immigracion." English translations will be made available upon request.
No truth to the rumor that
No Child Left Behind
will be renamed to
No Little Chili Bean Left Behind
why does Bush have to sooth ties with Mexico?
It's not like we are being invaded at our southern border or anything...../do I HAVE to?
and he still keeps pushing the same old crap
so do most of the Senators and about half of the house.
What about them?
Personally, I'm not worried about Bush. I'm more worried about the many butt buddies in congress, ala McCain and Teddy.
"....so sick of him I could spit."
Remember this, and it is a little more understandable......Poppa Bush 41 was going to jam NAFTA down our throats during his second term that he never had.....failing that, after he was defeated (the sucking sound), as the lamest-duck part of his presidency ticked off, he committed the US Govt to "fast-track" legislation re NAFTA.....the clock ticked real fast during the beginnings of Clintons admin, and THAT is how we wound up with NAFTA, for which one of the major benefits pushed as a selling point was tha it would cut legal and illegal immigration by virtue of bettering Messico's domestic economy. So much for THAT lie!
So we suffered the clinton 8 yrs, now we have another Bush, who has been continuing daddys work......and a fiasco WOT/Iraq that sucks all the breath from public attention to what THIS Bush is doing wrt Messico......watch out now, because from here on out he has nothing to fear.....not another prez or congressional election.......he is as lame-duck as it gets, and has nothing to lose with selling our sovereignty and in fact our very nationhood like the good little trilateralist/globalist that his daddy raised him to be.
Daddy might have done the whole thing himself, but his Iraq distraction was short-lived, and his second term non-existent.
We're in deeeep shi'ite! Global jihad is real, for sure.....but it serves as great cover for the "totalization" about to come out of the closet.
I pray I'm wrong, believe me. Washington is full of trenchrats.
U.S. President George W. Bush (L) smiles with Mexico's President Felipe Calderon during an arrival ceremony at the Hacienda Temozon in Temozon Sur, March 13, 2007. REUTERS/Larry Downing
Bush would do better to try to "soothe ties" with America, Mexico already rules here.
You summed it up. "the new world order" It's okay for the elite. The rest of us, well,"let them eat cake(pastel)".
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
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