From Herald Wire Services

 WASHINGTON -- Immigration reform may be too complex to complete by year's end, President Bush said Thursday in response to the plea of visiting Mexican President
 Vicente Fox. Undaunted, Fox told Americans ``we need your trust'' to swiftly legalize millions of undocumented immigrants.

 Seeking to ease decades of cross-boarder suspicion, Fox addressed a joint meeting of Congress and then flew with Bush aboard Air
 Force One to address Hispanic voters in Toledo, Ohio. Today, the Mexican president comes to Miami to attend a conference on the
 future of the Americas.

 ``The time has come for Mexico and the United States to trust each other,'' Fox said.

 Bush embraced the Mexican's wish to soften U.S. immigration laws, but not his goal to complete the work by year's end.

 ``This is an incredibly complex issue,'' the president said. One challenge will be to legalize undocumented immigrants without being
 unfair to people who have been following the rules and going through sluggish legal channels, he said.

 ``To make matters even more complicated, we've got to work with the Congress,'' Bush said, knowing conservatives in his own Republican Party have led the fight against
 amnesty. ``We've got to come up with a solution that Congress can accept.''

 Administration officials said Bush was signaling to Fox -- as he did in private meetings -- that striking an immigration deal probably will take more than the four months
 remaining in 2001.

 NOT EMPTY-HANDED

 Even so, Bush made sure Fox did not go home empty-handed from a 62-hour trip designed to silence critics who claim the Mexican president has not lived up to his
 promise. In a joint news conference before their trip Bush:

   Promised to veto a transportation spending bill unless Congress drops new safety standards for Mexican trucks using U.S. roads.

   Urged lawmakers to suspend a program requiring Mexico to get annual certification that it has cooperated in the war against drugs.

   Tried to shield Fox from blame over a sagging Mexican economy, noting that U.S. financial prospects affect other nations. Gesturing at Fox, the president said, ``He's
 getting blamed for something that's taking place in America.''

 In Toledo, framed by oversize U.S. and Mexican flags, Bush called Fox ``mi amigo'' and ``special visitor.'' Fox told the Toledo crowd that Americans need not be afraid of
 eased immigration.

 ``I wanted to tell my paisanos in this part of the United States, that my friend, President Bush, and myself will work, not only for your cause, but also for the cause of the
 United States and the cause of Mexico,'' Fox said.

 ROOTED IN MISTRUST

 Standing before Congress hours earlier, Fox said worries in the United States and Mexico are deeply rooted in mistrust by people of both countries.

 ``In Mexico, they derive from a long-held sense of suspicion and apprehension about its powerful neighbor,'' Fox said.

 ``And in the United States, they stem from previous experience with a political regime governing Mexico, which for the most part was regarded as undemocratic and
 untrustworthy.''

 He was referring to the long-ruling party Fox threw out of office with his election victory last year.

 THUMBS-UP

 Fox got an enthusiastic reception, and even smiles and a thumbs-up from longtime Mexico critic Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C.

 ``For him to say, `We are changing. This is an opportunity. Trust us,' I'm willing to do that,'' said Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., who called Fox's speech a
 ``boffo'' performance.

 Fox used the word trust or a variation of it 32 times -- more than once every minute -- in his speech to Congress, and two more times during the brief news conference.

 Bush was nearly as liberal with the word complex, using it five times to describe immigration reform.

 Congressional Democrats used Fox's visit to stress their commitment to changes in immigration law. Democrats want to make sure Bush does not get all the credit with
 Hispanic voters for trying to help immigrant workers in the United States.

 BIPARTISAN BILL

 Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., moved quickly to bring bipartisan legislation to the Senate floor Thursday that would let undocumented relatives of legal
 immigrants stay in the United States while they await residence permits.

 Daschle said he wants a new immigration policy to apply beyond Mexicans and include such workers as Nicaraguans, Hondurans and Asians. ``We think it ought to be
 universally applied, not country-specific,'' he said.

 Today, the last day of Fox's visit to the United States, he will have breakfast in Washington with Daschle and House Speaker Dennis Hastert and address diplomats at
 the Organization of American States.

 After attending the Miami conference on the future of the Americas, he will have dinner with Gov. Jeb Bush and his wife, Columba, who is Mexican-born.
 
 
 
 

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