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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | February 2008 
Calderón to Make First U.S. Visit
 Lisa J. Adams - Associated Press
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| | Calderón's coast-to-coast trip begins Sunday with stops in New York and Boston, followed by Chicago, Sacramento and Los Angeles. | | |
Mexico City – Mexican President Felipe Calderón's first trip to the United States this week is a high-stakes effort to shape the immigration debate during the U.S. presidential race.
Calderón won't meet President Bush or any of his would-be successors this trip, but will make his voice heard in major U.S. cities at a time when both Republican and Democratic candidates are carefully calibrating their positions on hot-button issues such as the border wall, deportations, guest-worker programs and driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.
Many undocumented Mexican migrants who have raised families and built careers in the United States are facing a much bleaker future as federal, state and local governments crack down. And the election year isn't helping, according to Calderón, who has accused U.S. presidential candidates of using migrants as “symbolic hostages in their speeches and strategies.”
“I am especially worried about the growing harassment and frank persecution of Mexicans in the United States in recent days,” Calderón told Mexico's migrant assistance agency.
Calderón instructed Mexican consuls across the United States to triple efforts to promote positive contributions of Mexicans north of the border.
“The key is to neutralize this strategy of confrontation and discrimination that forms part of U.S. society's mistaken perception,” he said.
What Calderón wants is for Congress to allow more Mexicans to live and work legally north of the border. But such reform is politically futile this year, and his visit could backfire if it drives the controversial immigration issue back to the forefront. Senator John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, already must defend himself to conservatives who view him as too liberal on immigration.
On the Democratic side, exit polls showed Hispanics backing Hillary Rodham Clinton by a 2-1 margin in Tuesday's primaries, even though Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan immigrant, was alone in supporting driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. But as both Clinton and Obama look toward the general election, Calderón's presence could prompt a hardening of their positions, as well.
Calderón has not publicly expressed a preference for any candidate, saying he does not meddle in other countries' affairs. But he has openly accused them of “swaggering, macho and anti-Mexican posturing” attitudes.
And in a pre-trip interview with the Los Angeles-based Spanish-language newspaper Hoy, Calderón called on the next U.S. president to have a “broader vision – the ability to analyze the migration phenomenon more calmly and objectively, less emotionally and more rationally.”
Calderón's coast-to-coast trip begins Sunday with stops in New York and Boston, followed by Chicago, Sacramento and Los Angeles.
His California visit will include meetings with political allies such as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is supporting Clinton in the presidential race.
Schwarzenegger, a Republican, met Calderón when he was president-elect during a trade mission to Mexico City in 2006. He has called the planned U.S. border wall “an incomplete way” of solving illegal immigration and said California and Mexico would benefit from legalizing workers.
California farmers, who export nearly $20 billion in goods to Mexico annually, have complained that immigration crackdowns have caused labor shortages in the state.
Schwarzenegger and Calderón will meet privately and attend a state luncheon on Wednesday. Calderón also will address a joint session of the state Legislature.
Calderón's East Coast itinerary includes a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and a speech at Harvard University.
Criticizing U.S. attitudes on immigration is a must for any Mexican president, but Calderón also has focused more than his predecessor, Vicente Fox, on improving conditions at home.
He has promised to create more jobs and announced large infrastructure projects and other initiatives aimed at helping the Mexican economy grow and resist a U.S. economic downturn.
Ministering to the 11 million Mexicans living in the U.S. can help maintain his popularity as he launches the second year of his six-year term. |
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