Leader Says His Credibility Is Being Undermined by Bush's Failure to Speed Immigration Reform

By Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service

MEXICO CITY, May 9 -- President Vicente Fox said tonight that progress in relations with the United States has "stalled" and that Washington's failure to deliver
concrete results on immigration reform is undermining his credibility at home.

In a speech in New York to the Council of the Americas, a U.S. business organization concerned with hemispheric issues, Fox said he and President Bush have set a
positive new tone in relations. But he argued that by now, 18 months after he took office, Washington should have adopted some fundamental changes in its
immigration policies, including an increased number of permanent visas for Mexicans and legal status for at least some of the 3 million to 4 million undocumented
Mexicans living in the United States.

"Our progress in turning this conceptual breakthrough into concrete agreements and policies appears to be stalled," he said, according to Mexican officials who
attended the private speech. "In spite of our ongoing dialogue and our shared vision of the future, there are still few tangible results."

"There can be no privileged U.S.-Mexico relationship without actual progress on substantive issues," Fox said. "And there will be no substantive progress without
comprehensively addressing the issue of migration."

Immigration is the single most important issue to Mexico, which shares a 2,000-mile border with the United States. More than 23 million Mexicans and Mexican
Americans live in the United States, and last year they sent home about $9.3 billion in remittances.

More than a year ago, Fox and Bush agreed to the highest-level review ever of immigration policy, issuing a joint statement saying that they hoped to create a new
framework to make immigration safer and more orderly. At least 325 Mexicans died trying to sneak into the United States over deserts and mountains last year.

Fox wants preferential visa status so more Mexicans can enter the United States legally each year. He also wants more guest-worker programs to allow Mexicans to
legally find temporary work in the United States. Most of all, he wants Washington to grant legal status to at least some of the millions of undocumented Mexicans
who live and work in the United States, many of whom have paid U.S. taxes for years.

Bush promised to consider those requests. But progress on bilateral talks slowed because the two leaders' enthusiasm wasn't shared by some members of Congress,
who have said the United States should be limiting rather than expanding immigration. After the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the issue was pushed into the background in
Washington.

Mexicans believe that Fox's leverage with Bush is that it is in the U.S. interest to have a strong ally on its southern border. Fox has been one of Bush's closest allies,
but now he is finding that an alliance that is based on words and not action is a political liability at home.

"This lack of progress makes it increasingly difficult to maintain political and public support for what is perceived in Mexico as a shift in our traditional foreign policy,
formerly based on the need to keep the U.S. at arm's length," Fox said tonight.

Fox has staked much of his presidency on improving relations with the United States. But his popularity has plummeted as the Bush administration has not produced
new immigration policy. Critics, especially in the Mexican Congress, call Fox a lackey who brings home nothing but nice photos with Bush on Fox's visits to the
United States.

"All Fox gets is kisses," said Jorge Montaño, a former Mexican ambassador to the United States. "We have gotten not even a taco."

The Mexican Senate embarrassed Fox last month by using, for the first time, its constitutional power to deny presidential foreign travel to keep him from making a
planned trip to the United States. Mexican cartoonists portrayed Fox as a grounded teenager; "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno called Fox the only Mexican who could
not get into the United States.

In another sign of his sensitivity to the rising criticism, Fox recently canceled his scheduled May 19 commencement address at the University of Notre Dame in
Indiana, citing "political circumstances" at home.

Fox also said tonight that the lack of progress on the Mexican agenda in Washington was hurting his credibility and authority in Latin America, preventing Mexico
from taking a more powerful role in crises in Colombia, Venezuela and Argentina.

He said leaders in the region interpret Washington's lack of progress with Mexico as an indication of a general reluctance to engage more closely in Latin America.

A top government official here, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Fox decided to air his frustration tonight in a private speech because he is reluctant to
offend a president he considers an ally and close friend.

Bush "is Mexico's best friend," the official said. "We don't want to throw mud in the face of the administration."

But, he said, "if we wait any longer, we could end up with a complete stalemate in the relationship," the official said. "All the momentum we've achieved in the past
year could be lost."

Rafael Fernandez de Castro, a leading international relations professor here, said Fox needs to press harder without sounding fed up, "because that could put
Mexico-U.S. relations in the ice chest."

Fox tonight told the U.S. business group, founded by retired Chase Manhattan Bank chief executive David Rockefeller, that Mexico has kept its end of the bargain:
Mexico has tightened border security and financial regulations to make it harder for terrorists to move money. Mexico has also arrested several drug lords long
sought by the United States.

In response, many in Mexico believe they have actually lost ground on immigration. They cite, for example, a recent Supreme Court decision that employers do not
have the same responsibilities to undocumented migrant workers as they do to U.S. citizens.

"Fox hasn't lifted his voice," said Carolina Viggiano Austria, a legislator from the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party. "He hasn't won anything with his
complacent attitude."

                                               © 2002