On Day 2, Fox Presses Call for ‘Orderly’ Guest Worker Plan

With immigration issues front and center before the U.S. Congress, Mexico’s president made an emotion-laden visit to this agricultural valley in central Washington state Wednesday, telling hundreds of farmworkers at an apple orchard that “we miss you very much in Mexico.”

“We know about your sorrow and your nostalgia for your land and your music and your communities and your families,” Fox told the workers.

Greeted by a 13-piece mariachi band and a boisterous, cheering crowd in an area where nearly half the population is Latino, most with ties to Mexico, Mexican President Vicente Fox used the second day of his four-day U.S. trip to highlight support for what he called an “orderly” guest worker program.

Fox stopped here between speeches in Salt Lake City and Seattle, and he is scheduled to arrive today in California, where he will meet with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

“It’s clear that we need to reach an agreement to give security, legality and order to the flow of migrant people,” said Fox, a reference to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who cross the border illegally to find work tending and picking crops in the U.S.

Congress is debating a number of proposals to deal with the issue.

Many lawmakers favor building hundreds of miles of triple-layer fences to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and increasing fines for those who hire illegal immigrants. Others say the workers are a vital part of the economy whose contributions should be recognized with new laws making it easier for them to work here legally -- and to cross safely.

Fox put himself firmly in the latter camp during his speeches Wednesday and paid tribute to the workers, who, he said in Spanish, “came to this land with sacrifice, often risking their lives.”

In Salt Lake City, speaking in English in an address before the state Legislature, Fox said his government supported a “new system that regulates the movement of people across our border in a manner which is legal, safe and orderly.”

Highlighting the contentiousness of the issue, however, about 50 demonstrators protested outside the Utah Capitol, waving signs that said, “Do not give up state and national sovereignty to Mexico” and “Anarchy Breeds Lawlessness.”

“I’m outraged to see Fox in our country because he promotes law-breaking,” said Robin Hvidston of Upland, a supporter of the anti-illegal immigration group the Minutemen. For state lawmakers to even meet with the Mexican president, she added, “is something close to treason.”

But Fox received a generally warm welcome from legislators and business leaders in Utah and Washington state, where Gov. Christine Gregoire met him at the Yakima airport.

Their motorcade sped away to G&G; Orchards, an apple and pear business owned by two Mexican immigrants in the Yakima Valley.

There he was greeted with raucous applause from the farmworkers, and he listened intently as growers lobbied him to ease Mexican restrictions on U.S. apple imports.

“We’d like to get our apples into Mexico,” said Rene Garcia, co-owner of the 700-acre orchard.

The immigration issue is caught up in election-year politics on both sides of the border. Some U.S. lawmakers say it is outrageous for Mexico to send so many illegal workers here. By growers’ estimates, as many as 70% of the farmworkers in the U.S. don’t have legal documentation.

Many growers say their crops would wither unpicked if there was a crackdown along the border. Their critics say those jobs would be filled by legal workers if they paid higher wages.

But in Mexico, where an election to succeed Fox as president is set for July, the well-being of the Mexican workers is a huge issue.

Fox is scheduled to attend a breakfast with business leaders in Seattle today and tour a community health center before moving on to Sacramento.

Toward the end of his tour of the Yakima orchard, as he shook hands with farmworkers, Fox leaned close to one man and told him in Spanish: “We’re with you.” Replied the worker: “Thank you for your help.” Said another: “This means a lot to us, just to have someone important like you recognize us, and respect us.”

But as his motorcade sped away, Fox also must have taken in the sight of roughly 75 protesters, a few dressed in red-white-and-blue flag sweaters, with the group Protect Washington Now, which supports tougher border enforcement.

“This ridiculous flow of illegal immigrants isn’t really helping anybody,” said protester Kathy Adams, 38, a waitress and divorced mother of three who said she struggled to pay her bills.

“A lot of the Mexican workers are forced to live like animals,” Adams said, “and a lot of us Americans feel like we’re falling further behind. You can’t make a decent wage, especially with gas prices where they are. It’s a giant Catch-22. I’m sure somebody’s profiting from all this, but from where I am, I really can’t see who it is.”

Times staff writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this report.