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COCHISE COUNTY -- Mexican President Vicente Fox wants safe passage for his citizens who enter into the United States, legally and illegally.
And Fox's comments Tuesday in Arizona left a variety of impressions with area residents who either saw him or, in the case of one person, was on his way to protest the visit.
Three local residents -- Douglas Mayor Ray Borane; Glenn Spencer, head of the American Border Patrol; and the Rev. Tom Buechele of St. John Episcopal Church in Bisbee -- offered their views on Fox.
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Borane
Borane and about 40 other people, many from Arizona border communities, met with Fox on Tuesday.
The Mexican government wants a new guest-worker program, something that is seen as being needed by Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, and some Republican members of Arizona's congressional delegation, he said.
Borane, a supporter of a new program to legally allow Mexicans and other immigrants to come into the United States to fill jobs Americans will not do, said he was troubled by Fox's lack of how Mexico would like to see the program developed.
"He wants a (new) guest-worker program, but there were no details," Borane said about what he heard Fox say.
Initially, Borane was to speak for the Arizona border mayors at the private meeting with Fox, but he said he let the Nogales, Ariz., Mayor Mario Lopez do most of the talking.
The Mexican president knows that his country's economy heavily depends on the remittance of money from his nation's citizens who work in the United States, the Douglas mayor said.
"He (Fox) also realizes the United States is concerned about border security," Borane said.
Fox is looking for better humanitarian treatment for Mexicans living and working in the United States.
Borane said he agrees with Fox and others that "we do need them (Mexican migrants), we do use them and we have to do something to accommodate them."
As for Napolitano seen as pushing for a state guest-worker program with Mexico, Borane said that has been misinterpreted by many people. He said the governor knows anything concerning immigration is a federal issue, not a state one. Napolitano is trying to do is once the federal government comes up with a proposal for a guest-worker program is for Arizona to be ready to be a pilot program for the new policy, Borane said.
By Fox once again pushing the need to look at the immigration problem between Mexico and the United States, Borane said the issue is back on the table for discussion.
"We in the United States are addicted to cheap labor and they (Mexico) oblige us with it," he said.
Spencer
Spencer, who heads the private nonprofit American Border Patrol headquartered in Sierra Vista, said he was caught in the traffic tie-up for many hours on Interstate 10 because of the fighting between people smugglers. The delay stopped him from attending an anti-Fox rally in Phoenix.
That a gun battle on a major interstate corridor that connects Southern Arizona with Phoenix happening when Mexico's president was in the state capital shows the failure of the federal government to control the border, Spencer said.
The incident should indicate to Fox and other members of his government and the U.S. government that people smuggling is a big money business and that the brazen actions by smugglers to fire at each other endangering American citizens is an example why more not less border controls are needed, Spencer said.
Buechele
Buechele, who is the vicar of the St. John Episcopal Church, agrees that people-smuggling is a major industry because of the money being collected. He said people-smuggling operations must to be stopped.
He said he believes that a guest-worker program would reduce the illegal industry.
He and four other people of various religious communities in Cochise County were at the Phoenix Civic Plaza Tuesday when Fox and others spoke.
The Cochise County contingent was part of the Arizona Interfaith Network. Cochise County religious groups are part of the Pima County Interfaith Council, but Cochise County will hopefully have its own council in the future, the vicar said.
Buechele said that what he got from Fox's visit was the Mexican president's resolve to put the issue of Mexican migrant workers back on the table for the two governments to tackle.
Fox would like to see something like the European model of guest-worker programs, such as between Spain and Germany, to be used as a starting point in developing one between the United States and Mexico, he said.
"If we had a good guest-worker program in a rather simplified way, it would be a major step in the right direction," Buechele said.
The vicar emphasized that without a new guest-worker program that has protections for migrant workers, the "continued industrialization of smugglers will grow." He said that will be a detriment to both nations.
Joe Hicks wrote on Oct 8, 2007 2:22 PM: