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ImmigrationProf Blog
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Bush on Immigration in Mexico and Guatemala

By immigrationprof

President Bush tried to reassure increasingly sceptical Mexicans today that he has not given up on overhauling U.S. immigration policy.

Bush told Mexican President Felipe Calderon in their first summit meeting he would try to convince Congress to pass his plans to soften U.S. immigration laws and allow a guest worker program.

“My pledge to you and your government, but more importantly the people of Mexico, is that I will work as hard as I possibly can to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” he said at a luxury hotel set in farm grounds on the outskirts of the southeastern Mexican city of Merida. Click Mexico.

In Guatemala on Monday, Guatemalan President Oscar Berger said that if the United States revises its immigration policy, its ties with Guatemala would be even closer. He made the remarks in his welcome speech for visiting President Bush at La Paz Patio inside Guatemala’s National Palace of Culture.

As 2 percent of Guatemala’s citizens live in the United States, Guatemala considers such a reform as essential, said Berger, noting that the two countries’ differences on the issue should be resolved constructively. Berger obviously referred to the arrest of some 300 undocumented Guatemalan workers, mostly women, by U.S. immigration agents last week, which has angered a lot of Guatemalans.

Berger said that he would make good use of his meeting with Bush to cover issues such as the fight against poverty, respect for human rights, fight against organized crimes and Central American economic integration.

Bush, for his part, said the two countries share identical ideals such as the free enterprise path to prosperity and the spread of social justice, and the two sides are working together to boost access to education, medical services and legal jobs for Guatemalans in the United States. During the welcoming ceremony, hundreds of demonstrators gathered just several streets away from the palace to protest Bush’s visit, shouting “Bush Out” and “Murderer.” Click Guatemala.

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