The talks between Mexico and the United States could not achieve much as Bush was not able to sign agreements with Mexico on a number of key issues, though he appeared optimistic while addressing the press after the talks.
Bush’s meetings with Calderon, the Mexican president, were on the last stop of his week long tour of Latin America. Calderon is viewed as a conservative free trade advocate and the US seeks to work with him to solve some of the issues between the two countries.
The illegal migrants from Mexico has been a perennial thorn in the relations between the two countries. President Bush on Wednesday sought to reassure the Mexicans of a better immigration policy that would be somewhere in between automatic citizenship to the illegal immigrants and kicking them out of the United States. He said ‘there’s got to be a middle ground and that is where a lot of the discussions are taking place’.
Every year 400,000 Mexicans cross the borders illeaglly to enter the United States in search of a better livelihood. Calderon sharply criticized the United States for building a 700 mile wall along the border. The border fence has worsened the relations between the two countries. He said that policies aimed at bringing more investment to Mexico would slow illegal immigration.
Reforms to the immigration laws have generated much heat in the US where the Republicans find it difficult to pass bills in the Democrat-dominated Houses. Bush said, he will persuade moderate Senate Republicans to join the Democrats to overhaul immigration laws.
‘A good migration law will help both economies and will help the security of both countries’, Bush said.
Bush promised to step up his efforts to persuade Congress to approve a bigger ‘guest worker program’ for Mexican migrants, and to provide a path to citizenship for the millions of immigrants already living in the United States.
Bush praised Calderon for his tough actions against the traffickers, though the two presidents did not reach any concrete agreements in coordinating their fight against drug dealers.
The agreement protecting small farmers in Mexico coud not be renewed either. The farmers who grow corn and beans will lose market protection if the current agreement is allowed to expire this year.
It is clear that it will take a long time before problems between Mexico and the United States are solved to the satisfaction of both sides.
