Fox’s Migration Proposal Hits Roadblock in U.S.

Mexican President-elect Vicente Fox floated his controversial plan for opening the U.S.-Mexico border to more migration with Vice President Al Gore here Thursday but was told that his idea was not likely to fly in the U.S., an advisor to the Democratic presidential nominee said.

“Gore said some elements of Fox’s proposal were problematic in the U.S.,” said Leon Fuerth, Gore’s national security advisor. “But he was interested to note that Fox wanted to paint this as a very long-term vision.”

The comments came as Fox, the first opposition candidate elected president in Mexico in 71 years, paid a one-day visit here that also included meetings with President Clinton and members of his Cabinet, opinion makers and representatives of human rights organizations.

It was Fox’s first visit to Washington since he was elected July 2.

In public comments since the election, Fox and his top aides have sought to shake up the U.S.-Mexican relationship. They have floated proposals on the touchy topics of migration and drug-related corruption, and suggested that Mexico will seek a significant increase in development-related assistance from its chief partners in trade--the U.S. and Canada.

Fox has called for a European Union-style partnership for North America, in which the U.S. and Canada would help create jobs and raise income levels in Mexico.

Although he raised the migration issue with Gore, Fox appeared to consciously mute most of that rhetoric. He told reporters that his meetings touched broadly on a variety of topics but that his main objective was to have a “very friendly conversation.”

“There were no agreements. It was just a chance to share experiences and to share thoughts, nothing more,” Fox said. “We didn’t come to negotiate anything. We didn’t come to make deals of any kind because I am just the president-elect.”

In private meetings and public comments, Fox stressed that his proposal to allow hundreds of thousands more Mexicans to cross the border seeking work is one intended for implementation over the course of decades.

And instead of dwelling on what the U.S. could do to help Mexico, he stressed what his nation needs to do to lift more of its people out of poverty. He told Clinton and Gore that he plans to invest heavily in education and infrastructure, and create a climate for small businesses and entrepreneurship to thrive.

Fox has said he would like the U.S. to let in more legal migrants, in exchange for more cooperation from Mexico on limiting the illegal flow of people. The U.S. spends billions of dollars a year trying to keep out illegal migrants.

Fox argues that the U.S. should spend less on defending the border and more on creating jobs south of the frontier, so that fewer Mexicans feel the need to migrate.

Clinton praised Fox’s electoral victory as “very impressive,” telling reporters that Mexico had held “a genuine, competitive, democratic election.”

Asked about Fox’s statements on migration, Clinton said: “We have borders and we have laws that apply to them, and we have to apply them, and so do the Mexicans. But I think in the long run our countries will become more interdependent.”

Fox has said he will use the time leading up to his Dec. 1 inauguration to lay out a plan for making swift and significant changes in Mexican society. He has also lamented the huge wage disparity between the U.S. and Mexico and has promised an economic policy that will generate more jobs in Mexico.

“We will never be that good friend, that good neighbor, that good partner, as long as Mexico is lagging way behind in development,” he said Thursday.

Today, Fox will meet in Dallas with the Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

Fox also met Thursday with representatives of human rights and environmental groups that have long been given the cold shoulder by his predecessors.

In remarks later at the National Press Club, he pledged an “open door” to foreign nongovernmental organizations seeking to work in Mexico. In recent years, representatives of many organizations, particularly those focusing on human rights, have been forced out of the country or denied visas.