Immigration tops summit agenda
Via The Chicago Tribune
By Hugh Dellios
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published March 30, 2006
By Hugh Dellios
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published March 30, 2006
CANCUN, Mexico -- President Bush arrived Wednesday
night in the Mexican resort of Cancun for a two-day summit with Mexican
President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper that
is likely to be dominated by immigration issues.
The meetings Thursday and Friday will take place as the U.S. Senate debates ways to control illegal immigration. Bush and Fox support the idea of a guest-worker program, which the Senate will be debating as the summit unfolds.
The main Senate proposal would create a legal channel for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally each year. It also would create an eventual path to residency and citizenship for the nearly 12 million undocumented workers already in the U.S., after they pay fines, pass criminal background checks and learn English. But many senators prefer a tough U.S. House bill that would make illegal immigration a felony and punish employers of illegal immigrants without creating a temporary worker program.
Goals
What Bush wants: To push immigration reform in the context of improved cooperation among the U.S. and its two North American neighbors and chief trading partners. The president also will be pushing Mexico to demonstrate, with concrete steps, a commitment to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
What Fox wants: To put Mexico's voice behind proposals to allow more workers to enter the U.S. legally. Fox, who leaves office after an election to replace him in July, has ceaselessly lobbied for U.S. immigration reform and would score it as the crowning achievement of his six years in office.
What Harper wants: The new Canadian prime minister will be pushing the U.S. to drop tariffs on softwood lumber that have cost exporters $5 billion. He also wants to ease pending rules that would require passports to enter the U.S. from Canada beginning Jan. 1.
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The meetings Thursday and Friday will take place as the U.S. Senate debates ways to control illegal immigration. Bush and Fox support the idea of a guest-worker program, which the Senate will be debating as the summit unfolds.
The main Senate proposal would create a legal channel for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally each year. It also would create an eventual path to residency and citizenship for the nearly 12 million undocumented workers already in the U.S., after they pay fines, pass criminal background checks and learn English. But many senators prefer a tough U.S. House bill that would make illegal immigration a felony and punish employers of illegal immigrants without creating a temporary worker program.
Goals
What Bush wants: To push immigration reform in the context of improved cooperation among the U.S. and its two North American neighbors and chief trading partners. The president also will be pushing Mexico to demonstrate, with concrete steps, a commitment to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
What Fox wants: To put Mexico's voice behind proposals to allow more workers to enter the U.S. legally. Fox, who leaves office after an election to replace him in July, has ceaselessly lobbied for U.S. immigration reform and would score it as the crowning achievement of his six years in office.
What Harper wants: The new Canadian prime minister will be pushing the U.S. to drop tariffs on softwood lumber that have cost exporters $5 billion. He also wants to ease pending rules that would require passports to enter the U.S. from Canada beginning Jan. 1.
Click to continue reading story
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