Mexico's Fox Calls Guest-Worker Idea Good For Security

MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Vicente Fox said Tuesday that U.S. national security needs would be well served with the adoption of a guest-worker program to bring illegal immigrants out of the shadows.

Fox's remarks to foreign reporters here followed an appearance Monday by President Bush in Tucson, Ariz., where he urged the U.S. Congress to pass a guest-worker program to match American employers with foreign workers.

Many of the beneficiaries would be Mexicans already in the United States.

Under fire from members of his own Republican Party who accuse him of being too soft on illegal immigration, Bush also spoke out more forcefully against illegal border crossers than he has previously.

He said that any guest-worker program should include more border controls and increased enforcement against the hiring of undocumented workers in U.S. workplaces.

Fox and Bush began their presidencies calling for immigration reform that would pave the way for more legal visas for Mexican workers. Proposals for such programs are pending in Congress.

Fox said that his government, which has another year in power, "will continue to try to convince" U.S. lawmakers that "the best that can happen for our two countries is to have a migrant flow to the United States that is orderly, controlled."

"Our position is very clear," Fox said. "The United States and Mexico are not only friends and neighbors, we are partners."

"We have to build a common future," Fox added. "We have to build prosperity together. And we have to do it with agreements. We have to do it through alliances."

Bush on Monday said that he would not support a guest-worker program if it included an amnesty or an option for accruing credits toward legal residency. He supports a plan to allow foreign workers to stay up to six years in the United States, after which they would have to return to their countries of origin.

Fox has not expressed a consistent preference for any specific guest-worker proposal. But on Tuesday said he thought a bipartisan proposal with a legalization option would "do a lot" to help solve illegal immigration.

The proposal, sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., would allow law-abiding guest workers to earn credits toward permanent legal U.S. residency.

Asked about a recent proposal by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., to construct a 2,000-mile fence along the border with a deep ditch and lights, Fox said: "It's their territory. They can do whatever they want in their territory. But I think it's very important to recall that the United States is a nation of migrants."