- MEXICO CITY (Reuters)
- Mexican President Vicente Fox called recent U.S. measures to stem illegal
immigration a step back for bilateral relations on Friday and said Mexican
migrants do jobs "that not even blacks want to do."
-
- In comments likely to raise the temperature of the immigration
debate, Fox defended the role of undocumented Mexican workers in the United
States to a group of Texas business people meeting in Mexico.
-
- "There is no doubt that Mexicans, filled with dignity,
willingness and ability to work are doing jobs that not even blacks want
to do there in the United States," he said in a speech broadcast in
part on local radio and reported on newspaper web sites.
-
- Fox said recent, tougher measures against immigrants
do not represent "the road we should be building between friends and
partners."
-
- Mexico has been seeking an accord with Washington for
years to make it easier for millions of illegal Mexican immigrants to live
and work in the United States. The country expects to repatriate this year
more than 250,000 foreigners, mostly Central Americans headed for the U.S.
border.
-
- Mexican hopes were raised early last year when President
Bush proposed a temporary worker program but it has become bogged down
in Congress.
-
- A key partner in U.S. border security, Mexico is upset
at new U.S. controls on foreign-born people, including tougher rules to
obtain drivers' licenses.
-
- Congressional Republicans attached the immigration changes
to legislation providing $82 billion in emergency funds for fighting in
Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush is expected to sign the legislation into law
soon.
-
- The law, approved unanimously by the Senate on Tuesday,
waives environmental rules to allow the extension of a fence on the border
between California and Mexico to stop illegal immigrants. Mexico calls
the measure "overly extreme."
-
- But Fox said he was encouraged by a bill put forward
on Thursday by Sens. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Edward Kennedy,
a Massachusetts Democrat, to allow some of the estimated 10 to 12 million
illegal immigrants in the United States to get legal jobs and eventual
citizenship.
-
- "I hope President Bush will support and push the
initiative, as he has publicly agreed. I have to take his word and hope
he delivers," Fox said.
|
