| Maybe Next Year, President Fox | |
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Dateline: 09/06/01
Mexico's President Vicente Fox today urged the U.S. Congress, as he had urged U.S. President Bush yesterday, to swiftly enact sweeping immigration reforms including the granting of legal residency status to some 3 million Mexican immigrants now living illegally in the United States.
"Trust needs to be the key element of our new relationship. Only trust will allow us to constructively tackle the challenges our two nations face," President Fox told Congress.
Asking Congress to act before the end of the year, Fox requested legislation that would:
- grant legal status to all Mexican immigrants currently working in the United States
- allow more visas to be issued to Mexicans wanting to migrate to the U.S. permanently
- increase the number of temporary U.S. work visas to be issued to Mexican citizens
Fox also recommended that the U.S. and Mexico enact legislation that would provide for increased enforcement of laws prohibiting the illegal and dangerous smuggling of people across the U.S.-Mexican border.
The two presidents have been discussing U.S.-Mexico immigration reform since Bush visited Mexico in February, at which time both leaders conceded that such a complex issue could take a long time to complete. As late as last Sunday, Fox had been quoted as saying that a total U.S.-Mexican immigration plan could take as long as six years to complete.
That's why President Bush was surprised when Fox began his U.S. visit yesterday by suggesting a much faster track. "We must and we can reach an agreement on migration before the end of this very year which will allow us, before the end of our respective terms, to make sure that there are no Mexicans who have not entered this country legally in the United States and that those Mexicans who have come into the country do so with the proper documents," stated Fox, whose term ends in 2006.
What President Fox may not have taken account is that "The end of this very year," will come for the U.S. Congress sometime within the next 30-40 working days, with most of those days spent completing a $2 trillion 2002 national budget. [See: Budget Crisis Looms -- Again]
Even if Congress is able to consider other legislation prior to adjournment, that legislation is much more likely to be education reform, patients rights, the faith-based initiative, or any of a number of other high-profile bills currently in the works.
Besides the controversy surrounding the issue, the immigration changes requested by President Fox would involve complex amendments to dozens of existing U.S. laws. Fox has proposed that all currently illegal, as well as all future Mexican immigrants, immediately be granted permanent U.S. work permits, along with rights to health, education and labor benefits. Fox has also requested free access and entry into the U.S. by Mexican trucks.
Just last month, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, (R-Wis.) was quoted as giving Mexican immigration reform no chance of congressional approval unless it was coupled with extensive changes to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
"It is foolish and unproductive to consider large changes to immigration laws - and give the INS new responsibilities - while only offering the same bureaucratic structure that has failed in the past," stated Sensenbrenner.
President Fox's demands are not without support in the U.S. Congress. In some states where large numbers of illegal Mexican immigrants have become integrated into the workforce and otherwise contribute to the economy, immigration reform is seen in a positive light.
In an Associated Press report of Sept. 6, House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas suggests that current U.S. immigration laws are unfair to Mexican immigrants. "You talk about families that are suffering. They feel threatened. They feel insecure. That's not right. It breaks your heart," Armey told reporters.
According to the same Sept. 6 Associated Press report, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, (D-SD) has proposed immediate consideration and passage by the Senate of legislation providing a one-year extension to the deadline for illegal immigrants to apply for U.S. visas. Daschle stated that he would like to see the Senate act on his proposal before President Fox leaves Washington on Sept. 7.
One additional aspect of this issue that must be kept in mind is the purely political one -- the growing Hispanic vote. The number of registered Hispanic voters has grown from 5.1 million in 1992 to 6.6 million in 1996. Census 2000 reported a total Mexican-American population of almost 21.7 million persons.
