U.S. Senators Back Plan for Guest Workers

A group of American senators promised a new era in U.S.-Mexican relations Wednesday, pledging to forge a guest-worker program to bring Mexicans legally into the United States.

The five senators also showered praise on Mexican leader Vicente Fox, saying his new presidency will end decades of stagnation in bilateral relations.

The delegation of four Republicans and one Democrat, led by Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), also said its members will work to eliminate a U.S. drug certification law that has created years of tension between Mexico City and Washington.

Under the program, the State Department annually evaluates the drug-fighting performance of other countries and imposes economic sanctions if they don’t pass.

“It was a bad idea to begin with,” Gramm said. “It’s made everybody unhappy.

“President Fox wants to get rid of it,” Gramm added. “We want to get rid of it, and we believe [President-elect George W. Bush] wants to get rid of it.”

The senators met for 90 minutes with Fox on Tuesday in a session that touched on everything from the North American Free Trade Agreement to congestion at border checkpoints.

Their most significant achievement, they said, was unanimous support for a new guest-worker program for Mexicans that would have the effect of granting amnesty to those currently working illegally in the United States--as many as 7 million people--while allowing others to apply for work from Mexico in the future.

Gramm said he believes the program could be up and running within a year and that he has no doubt Bush supports it.

The senators said the program could grant annually renewable legal permits to Mexican workers--first to those already in the country illegally and then to Mexicans interested in coming to the United States.

Benefits for Mexican workers could include fair wages, protection under U.S. labor laws, medical care and health insurance, Gramm said.

Companies would be more willing to provide training for legal workers they knew were going to stick around and the workers themselves would no longer have to pay the middlemen who make millions of dollars each year by helping them cross the border and find jobs, Gramm said.

Gramm said that with a pool of legal Mexican workers in the United States, employers would be less willing to hire illegal workers, significantly reducing the flow from Mexico.