More Surprises Expected From Fox
Pressing for Immigration Agreement by Year's End

Sept. 6, 2001
SUSAN CARROLL and OSCAR OBEYTA

Mexican President Vicente Fox caught President Bush off guard yesterday when he opened his first state visit by urging that an immigration agreement be reached by year's end.

Get ready for more surprises today, Washington insiders and observers say.

U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe attended a luncheon yesterday with members of the Mexican Cabinet and Secretary of State Colin Powell. The Tucson Republican said he expects the two governments today to announce a commitment to a guest worker program.

The Mexican government has said throughout high-level immigration talks that a guest worker program would have to be accompanied by some sort of legalization for the estimated 3 million to 4 million Mexicans living in the U.S. illegally.

But now, Kolbe said, there is talk of an "enhanced legalization," a guest worker program that eventually rewards workers for years of service with a green card.

A compromise might be more palatable to a Congress that has members who are "hostile" to the idea of an amnesty, Kolbe said.

When Bush first floated the idea of legalizing Mexican immigrants, Kolbe - long a vocal opponent of amnesty - said he reacted with disbelief.

"My jaw kind of dropped," Kolbe said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C. "I thought 'Where is he coming from? There isn't support for that here (in Congress).' "

Boris Kozolchyk, president of the National Law Center for Inter-American trade in Tucson, said Fox's hope to reach a broad immigration agreement with the United States by the end of this year is probably not realistic.

"Given the situation in Congress, I don't think it's very feasible unless they scale their proposals down to a guest worker program," he said.

A guest worker program, which would allow Mexican workers to enter the country legally for seasonal jobs, would enable Mexican families to count on regular income, he said. That could serve to stabilize the Mexican economy by boosting consumer spending and domestic investment.

"The benefit (of a guest worker program) to Mexico is enormous," he said. "It allows the families involved in this type of work to plan ahead."

Richard Fimbres, regional vice president for the League of United Latin American Citizens, was cautiously optimistic that there will be some result from the meeting between Bush and Fox.

"I think a viable guest worker program will come out of this, but we have to be cautious this doesn't turn into a bracero program."

The bracero program imported Mexican workers during World War II until the mid 1960s. That program ended amid allegations that U.S. employers were exploiting the workers.
Immigrant advocates and union leaders also worry what a guest worker program could mean to undocumented immigrants already living and working in the United States.

Paul Rubin, the Southern Arizona director for United Food and Commercial Workers, said aside from jeopardizing current workers' jobs, the proposal puts workers at the mercy of employers.

"To me, it seems the only people who are going to benefit from a guest worker proposal are the employers," Rubin said.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/local/archive/01/immig01/9_6_01fox.html