Fox Challenges Bush on Immigration

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 6 -- Mexico's President Vicente Fox opened his state visit with fireworks Wednesday, challenging his host, President Bush, to strike a deal on illegal immigrants before the year is out.

During a welcoming ceremony at the White House, Fox, speaking through an interpreter, said the two countries must reach a bilateral agreement by year's end on a broad guest worker program that would allow many Mexicans who are in the United States illegally to stay on legally.

"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," Fox said. "And that those Mexicans who have come into the country, do so with a proper documents."

Fox's announcement puts some heat on Bush, who has faced fierce pressures from within his own party against amnesty for undocumented workers in the United States, and pressures from Democrats and Hispanic groups in favor of a color-blind amnesty policy covering all Latinos, not just Mexicans.

At a state dinner Wednesday evening, Fox said he believed his nation and the United States could come up with a solution together.

"We are going to come up with answers," he said, referring not just to immigration but international crime. "I am sure now that we will develop and grow together."

Taking Observers by Surprise

But Fox's statement earlier in the day stunned observers.

In interviews in advance of the visit, Fox had conceded sweeping immigration reform would take years, probably beyond a first Bush term in office. And Bush had signaled that he is not ready to push immigration reform plans.

"Immigration is a very complex subject," Bush told reporters on the eve of the visit. Fox has advocated special treatment for Mexicans but Bush said, "I have explained to him there is no appetite for blanket amnesty in Congress."

Granting legal status to illegals faces significant challenges in Congress, where critics contend breaking U.S. laws should not be rewarded — particularly as people from other nations make their way through the lengthy legal immigration process.