- MEXICO CITY - Secretary
of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that President Bush would place a high
priority in his second term on granting legal status to millions of migrants
who live illegally in the United States.
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- Powell spoke at the inaugural session of the U.S.-Mexican
Bi-National Commission, which annually brings together top officials from
both sides to discuss a range of cross-border issues. Powell was joined
here by five other members of Bush's Cabinet.
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- "The president is committed to comprehensive immigration
reform as a high priority in his second term, and he will work closely
with our Congress to achieve this goal," Powell said, with delegations
from both sides in attendance at a Foreign Ministry auditorium.
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- In separate remarks, Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto
Derbez made no specific reference to the migration issue but praised the
"high level of confidence and understanding between the two countries."
- Mexico is the primary source of the 10 million undocumented
immigrants living in the United States. Persuading the United States to
push ahead with migration reform is a major goal of President Vicente Fox's
administration.
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- Last January, in an apparent bid for the votes of Hispanics
and segments of the U.S. business community, Bush unveiled an ambitious
immigration reform proposal whose key feature would provide temporary legal
status to illegal migrants provided they are employed.
- In the 10 months since Bush spelled out the proposal,
it has failed to make any headway.
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- Powell told reporters Monday night while flying here
that with the end of the election season in the United States and with
substantial progress in shoring up security along the border, "there
could be a more favorable environment" for immigration reform legislation.
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- He acknowledged, however, that it is not yet clear how
the new Congress taking office in January will deal with the issue. Many
in Congress oppose granting legal status to undocumented migrants because,
they say, that would reward people who broke the law when they crossed
the border.
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- Fox said the time is ripe for a migration accord. "We
have done all the analysis, diagnostics and problem solving possible,"
Fox said in a radio interview Monday. "There's no reason to lose much
time."
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- Earlier, Derbez praised the Bush administration's support
for Mexico's efforts to promote consular identification cards that help
Mexicans living abroad open bank accounts or apply for a driver's license
in some parts of the United States.
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- Mexico believes immigration reform is sorely needed because
of the precarious situation that many undocumented Mexicans in the United
States face despite their significant contributions to the U.S. economy.
Last week, Mexican Interior Secretary Santiago Creel called U.S. migration
policy "absurd."
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- Bush and Fox first broached the subject of immigration
reform less than a month after Bush took office in 2001. Fox said last
week he believed that 2005 might finally be the year when significant progress
might be possible.
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- Now That the Election Is out of the Way ...
- "Neither of our countries will be in elections next
year," Fox observed. But Creel warned against "raising expectations
beyond what is politically viable and really possible."
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- Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, migration reform
has taken a back seat to enhancing security along the border. U.S. officials
say Mexican cooperation has been exemplary in addressing U.S. concerns
about terrorists using the border as a transit point for attacks on U.S.
soil.
- On hemispheric relations, Powell acknowledged Monday
night there had been a shift to the left in several South American countries
but said he was "not deeply troubled by it at all. I want to work
with whoever the people elect in those countries."
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- He said it wasn't shocking that people in the region
were beginning to make different choices when they go to the polls if they
hadn't seen the kind of progress they were expecting.
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- As an example of the leftist trend, he cited the election
two years ago of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, but he
said Silva "has been acting quite responsibly with respect to economic
and fiscal policy."
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- Powell reserved judgment on the implications of the election
last week of a leftist coalition in Uruguay.
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