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President Bush began his meeting of North American leaders, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Mexican President Vicente Fox in Waco, after which he hosted them at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Joint Statement by Bush, Fox and Martin announcing the establishment of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. President Bush addressed the Schiavo legal situation during a news conference today. Of potential interest in Bush's push for peace in the Middle East, Russia's Putin will travel to Israel in April to meet Israeli PM Ariel Sharon and other members of the country’s leadership to hold negotiations on...

San Diego -- PRIMING THE PUMP for his meeting with President Bush at the "Western White House," Mexican President Vicente Fox stirred things up again when he told reporters in Mexico City last week that walls along the U.S.-Mexican border were "discriminatory" and "against freedom." Asked about a fence that U.S. officials are building along the border south of San Diego -- a barrier referred to, by people on both sides, as the "Tortilla Curtain" -- Fox said the structure "must be demolished." "No country that is proud of itself should build walls ... it doesn't make any sense," Fox...

President Vicente Fox of Mexico goes to Baylor University in Texas tomorrow to meet George W. Bush, and then to the ranch and he's not likely to pass up the opportunity to demand again that the United States take down "No Dumping" signs on the border. Human flesh has become Mexico's No. 1 export. Mr. Fox wants an open border to enable desperate Mexicans, eager to pursue the dream of a better life and who have given up on their native land, to disappear into America. This is pretty much how it is already, but Mr. Fox wants to erase...

Today, President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Mexican President Vicente Fox will meet in Crawford, Texas, for a summit that is not expected to deal with immigration. That is disappointing, especially since Mr. Fox in recent days downplayed the possibility that al Qaeda terrorists could cross into the United States from Mexico, ridiculed the San Diego border fence to curb illegal crossings and vowed to stamp out Arizona's Project Minuteman. Most troublesome was Mr. Fox's dismissal of worries about al Qaeda crossing the border.

THE WASHINGTON TIMES WACO, Texas -- President Bush holds a summit today with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin at Baylor University, and although the sensitive issue of immigration is not on the official agenda, the White House expects it to appear. "That's not part of the meeting," said a senior administration official yesterday on the condition of anonymity. "But you obviously have a number of meetings [and a lunch at Mr. Bush's Crawford ranch] in which the leaders will be together. I'd imagine in the course of that time, topics of that kind will be...

WASHINGTON - Early in his first term, President Bush (news - web sites) proposed easing immigration restrictions and establishing a free trade zone throughout the hemisphere. His first two foreign trips were to Mexico and Canada, emphasizing their importance. Four years later, both initiatives are unfulfilled, not even on the agenda as Bush meets Wednesday in Texas with Mexican President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. Instead, the North American leaders will sign a pact pledging to increase border security without hindering the flow of goods or the millions of people that cross the...

This week President Bush will meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox to discuss a number of thorny issues, primary among them: immigration and border control policy. George W. Bush has long been supported a pro-growth, pro-freedom immigration strategy and clearly sees immigrants as assets to the United States. On this issue, his world vision collides with the Republican Party's more nativist faction, which would drape a "No Admittance" sign over the Statue of Liberty. On the economics of immigration, Mr. Bush is more right than his critics. Whether skilled scientists and engineers in Silicon Valley or the migrant laborers who...

Maybe it’s the Texas-twangy Spanish he speaks, or his pro-immigrant views, or formerly governing a state that shares a border with Mexico, or even his Latino-heartthrob nephew. But whatever the reason, George W. Bush seems to have been more popular with Latino voters than any other Republican presidential candidate before him. In 1996, two years after Republican Gov. Pete Wilson of California championed Proposition 187, which barred illegal immigrants from receiving health and social services and which infuriated the Latino community, Bob Dole received support from just 21 percent of Latino voters, according to exit polls. But in 2000, Bush...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico, the United States and Canada will announce a special alliance to improve security while protecting the flow of trade across their borders, a Mexican official said Monday. The alliance represents "a big step" toward promoting economic development in the three countries, which belong to the North American Free Trade Agreement, and making their markets more competitive with Europe and Asia, Geronimo Gutierrez, Mexico's deputy secretary for North America, told reporters. President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) also hopes to broach immigration reform during Wednesday's meeting in Waco, Texas, although he has said previously that chances...

Mexican President Vicente Fox announced that immigration reform talks with the U.S. were set aside for the time being. MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Vicente Fox said that talks on immigration reform with American officials have ended for now and that there won't be any new announcements on the subject when he meets with President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin this week. ''President Bush has in his hands all the information, all the instruments to convert immigration initiatives into legislation,'' Fox said last week. ``But it's up to him and the U.S. Congress to lead us into orderly,...

President Bush will try to ease tensions over trade and immigration at a summit Wednesday with the leaders of Canada and Mexico that is expected to focus on strengthening security and economic ties. The meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Mexican President Vicente Fox is expected to produce a plan for improving North American economic competitiveness in a global environment seeing the rise of China and India and the expansion of the European Union, analysts said. The United States is pressing for stronger security measures, Mexico is seeking a promise on immigration issues and Canada is hoping for...

…while watching out for cattle guards They don't do the red carpet down here — their boots would just mess it up. But when George W. Bush has a new world leader over to the ranch, there are certain niceties to be observed. So, the Red Bull gift shop has the Canadian Holy Bears — complete with biblical passage (Psalms 72:8: "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth") and "God Bless Canada" tag — on its shelves and a yet-to-be-unwrapped Canadian flag ready to hang from its window....

MEXICO CITY - Anti-immigrant sentiment appears to be growing in the United States, Mexican President Vicente Fox said Wednesday, and he urged U.S. officials to act quickly to control movements such as the 950-member-strong Minuteman Project on the Mexico-Arizona border. Fox said he plans to push for U.S. immigration reform during a meeting with President Bush in Texas next week. He also said the two leaders, along with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, likely will announce a plan to expand the scope of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico's National Human Rights Commission recently issued a warning about several...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Jon Kyl today urged Mexican President Vicente Fox to respect the United States’ right to defend its borders and “demonstrate perhaps a little less disdain for the rule of law north of the border.” “I agree with President Fox that it is unacceptable for civilian groups to take the law into their own hands, and that individuals who volunteer to help the Border Patrol in a lawful way must guard against extremism in their ranks,” Kyl said. “But at the same time, President Fox does not appear to grasp the high level of frustration over...

MEXICO CITY, March 16 - President Vicente Fox said Wednesday that walls along the U.S.-Mexico border, such as one approved last month by the U.S. House of Representatives, "must be demolished" because they are "discriminatory" and "against freedom.""No country that is proud of itself should build walls...it doesn't make any sense," Fox said at a news conference ahead of last week's meeting in Crawford, Tex., with President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. Border security and immigration will be main topics of the leaders' discussion, along with trade and commerce.Fox did not specifically mention last month's House vote to...

Mexican President Vicente Fox has denounced border walls the United States is building to stem illegal immigrants, the Washington Post reports.

MEXICO CITY - The leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada, confronting the growth of rival groups in Europe and Asia, hope to strengthen their free-trade pact by signing an "Initiative for North America" next week in Texas, Mexico President Vicente Fox said Wednesday. But Fox made clear that tensions remain over how to secure the countries' borders, criticizing new U.S. walls running along parts of its 2,000-mile frontier with Mexico. "No country that is proud of itself should build walls," he said. Fox, President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin are scheduled to meet March 23 at...

WASHINGTON - The leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United States will discuss a plan to beef up continental security and speed up movement across their borders when they meet next week. A report calls for the creation of a common economic and security community by the end of the decade. The document's proposals would try to create a secure perimeter around the continent, while making it easier for people and goods to move across the shared borders. The proposals contained in the report are expected to be a part of the discussions when Prime Minister Paul Martin and Mexican...

Law-enforcement officials want President Bush to ask Mexican President Vicente Fox at their March 23 meeting in Texas to extradite criminal aliens who fled to Mexico to avoid prosecution, including a Mexican national suspected in the killing of a Los Angeles deputy sheriff.The Los Angeles Police Protective League, in a letter yesterday to Mr. Bush, also asked the president to fulfill a promise he made to the family of slain Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff David March. Mr. Bush told the deputy's widow in 2003 during the Peace Officer's Memorial Service in Washington, "We'll get him back," referring to the...

March 23, President Bush will meet President Fox at his Crawford, Texas Ranch. Fox will lobby for an Immigration deal.