Fox Urges State to Ease Tuition Residency Rules

Mexican President Vicente Fox on Wednesday challenged Californians to extend affordable college education opportunities to Mexicans who have established homes in the state, in recognition of the migrants’ contribution to its prosperity.

With the same frankness that last year helped him end seven decades of one-party rule in Mexico, Fox addressed a joint session of the Legislature with a confident appeal to build on the improved relations between Mexico and California.

“We should conceive of the border more as a joining line than as a dividing line,” Fox declared to warm applause. “Let us make the proximity of our peoples into a source of solutions instead of a generator of controversies.”

While Fox and Gov. Gray Davis were hailing the symbols of unity between their peoples, Cabinet-level officials were signing significant environmental accords that translate the renewed friendship into practical results.

The agreements will create cross-border programs to reduce air pollution in Tijuana, improve waste-water treatment in major cities along the Baja California border and work jointly to protect the Gulf of California, which Mexicans call the Sea of Cortes. Some of those negotiations had been stalled for two years, Mexican officials said, until Fox took office and pushed them forward.

Fox, on his first visit to the United States since his December inauguration, appeared moved by the warm reception he received, saying, “You make me feel at home with this welcome.”

Still, Fox did not shy away in his speech from one of the major irritants in relations between California and Mexico: He urged that Mexicans living in California and seeking legal residency be granted access to the state’s college system at the much lower in-state tuition rates. Davis, who sat behind Fox on the dais, has opposed such a policy as unaffordable.

Fox noted that Mexico’s Nobel laureate in chemistry, Mario Molina, graduated from the California system--”positive proof of what can be accomplished with the right opportunities. Help us to give these people access to the virtues of California’s excellent education system.”

The Mexican president--a rancher, farmer and businessman from the state of Guanajuato--lauded the contribution of Mexicans in California, saying they “have not only made the state’s current prosperity possible, but through their traditions and customs they have also given greater vitality to the rich and diverse culture of California.”

Davis, who has helped heal the wounds in the cross-border relationship that festered during former Gov. Pete Wilson’s administration, acknowledged that differences exist but praised Fox for his commitment to Mexican migrants. In the past, Mexican governments have ignored or even disdained those who left home to earn a living in the United States.

“I feel very proud of the way President Fox conducts himself in our country,” Davis told a joint news conference. “He always feels very proud of the achievements of Californians of Mexican descent. This is the start of a new relationship between the president of Mexico and the people who were born in Mexico but migrated to the United States.”

Wednesday night, Fox flew to San Jose to tour Silicon Valley businesses. He plans to meet with Mexican migrant workers in Fresno this morning before heading to Los Angeles for a town hall meeting and a dinner with Hollywood heavyweights.

Fox, whose nation is selling California 50 megawatts of electric power, repeated his commitment to make more surplus electricity available to the state when possible, but he dimmed hopes of a significant increase any time soon. Noting the political sensitivities in Mexico, Fox said such energy sales do not undermine sovereignty and would not come at the expense of his nation’s own needs.

Assemblyman Roderick Wright (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the lower house’s Energy Committee, said he does not expect Mexico to solve the state’s energy problems.

“I’m encouraged that he wants to continue to help us, but as he said, he ain’t the solution to our problem,” Wright said. “Basically, he’s giving us whatever surplus electricity he has already.”

Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), who met Fox several years ago, said Fox’s speech left him tremendously optimistic about the possibilities of increased partnerships with Mexico. He said Fox’s words were warm and showed no lingering hostility from Proposition 187--which sought to limit public services for undocumented immigrants--or the other antagonistic political fights of the early 1990s.

“President Fox is going to be great,” Hertzberg said. “He saw what Florida has done in establishing closer ties to Latin America, and he thinks we can achieve similar relationships, benefiting not only our economies but our cultures.”

“When he talks about the relationships with California--look at the number of Latino legislators in the chamber today. Most of them are of Mexican descent. When he says that Mexican immigrants have made great contributions to California, I think the proof is here in this chamber.”

Hertzberg said he was encouraged by Fox’s offer of assistance on energy and that he wants to talk to Mexican leaders about connecting California’s electrical grid to Mexico’s in the San Diego area if the state completes its planned purchase of power lines from utilities.

Assemblyman Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), the son of Mexican immigrants who, like Fox, is a farmer, said he hopes the California visit will lead to new economic partnerships between the state and Mexico.

“The Mexican people elected a reformer, and I am happy to see him in California,” Maldonado said. “Neighbors help each other, and I hope to hear him say he can help build power plants in Mexico. It can create new jobs for Mexico and new power for California.”

Another lawmaker, Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), said earlier that he hoped to speak with Fox about legislation that would let foreign workers who legally reside in California or are applying for legal residency to obtain state driver’s licenses. Davis vetoed Cedillo’s legislation last year and remains opposed to the idea, despite support for it by the Mexican government.

“Obviously, the question of driver’s licenses is becoming ripe,” Cedillo said. “We cannot continue to have legal residents here in California who are fully integrated in our economy not fully integrated in our society. It’s just not right.”

By meeting with Fox, the lawmakers were clearly hoping to put pressure on Davis to pass the driver’s license bill, as well as legislation to allow people who have attended public high schools here and are petitioning for U.S. residency to attend California state schools at in-state tuition rates.

Davis last year vetoed a college bill introduced by Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh (D-Los Angeles) that would have allowed students going through the long process of gaining legal residency to pay in-state tuition. Davis said at the time that the legislation would cost the state $63.7 million. Firebaugh has reintroduced the legislation.

“Look, there are a lot of issues that he has articulated concern for that we have been working for a long time,” Firebaugh said. “Not the least of those is the children of immigrants who are ready to go to college and become productive members of society but have financial obstacles to overcome. We hope he will appeal to the governor on these legislative measures. Frankly, he has raised expectations.”

Among those who were expected to be in the Assembly chambers when Fox spoke was a former valedictorian at the high school attended by Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes (D-Fresno). The student’s parents are not U.S. citizens and cannot afford to pay for her attendance at a state school.

“Does that make any sense at all? She could be the next Sarah Reyes,” Cedillo said. “We’ve made this 12-year investment in this young woman, she is one of the brightest members of her class, and we are not going to go the extra step for her?”

Senate Republican leader Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga) said he is sympathetic to Fox’s call for greater access for immigrants to California’s higher education system but that it is not financially possible.

“I understand that would be something he would be favorably disposed to,” Brulte said. “Frankly, if California has the money to send every child to a great school, we would do that. But we don’t have the money.”

The three environmental agreements signed by Fox and Davis tackle pollution problems that originate in Mexico but spill across the border into Southern California.

On air pollution, California will develop a two-year pilot program to create an emission measurement and control system in Tijuana, first involving state-owned vehicles and then extending to all vehicles. California will lend equipment and technology.

On waste water, California and Baja will extend current cooperative efforts in Tijuana to the cities of Mexicali and Tecate. A three-year project will bring the California Environmental Protection Agency and its Mexican counterpart together on technical projects to treat industrial waste.

Mexican Environment Minister Victor Lichtinger said the projects are the start of a new cooperative approach to border pollution issues that affect both countries.

“Pollution doesn’t need a passport or a visa to cross the border,” Lichtinger said.