November 10, 2006

Bush Repeats Guest-Worker Commitment to Mexico's Calderon

By Stephen Kaufman
Washington File White House Correspondent

Washington – President Bush congratulated the Mexican people for an “open and honest” election and reaffirmed that Mexico “is a priority” of his administration in his first meeting with Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon Hinojosa.

After speaking with Calderon at the White House on November 9, Bush told reporters that the discussions focused on issues of mutual interest such as trade, efforts to fight narcotics trafficking and migration.

“I assured the president-elect that the words I said … about a comprehensive immigration vision are words I still believe strongly,” Bush said, in reference to his desire to have a temporary guest-worker program that would allow some illegal immigrants to the United States to become eligible for citizenship.

The new Mexican leader said he and Bush intend to strengthen bilateral relations, and said Bush “was very open” to his concerns over migration issues, including the construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“We both stressed the need to have a comprehensive vision with which we can move forward. This is, of course, an extremely important issue,” he said, but “it is not the only issue in our bilateral relationship.”

Calderon said Mexico wants to expand its trade relationship with the United States, and he and Bush understand that “the only solution to many of the problems that we have is to create well-paid jobs in Mexico, and for that we need even more investment.”

At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said Calderon has “a very broad agenda” for Mexico, including handling immigration, organized crime and trade.

Before meeting with Bush, Calderon had discussions with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on issues including immigration and “how it also relates to the other issues of development and trade and security,” which can create “a better horizon” for economic welfare.

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(The Washington File, 11/09/06; The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)