Bush, Calderon say Mexico growth could stop illegals

By David R. Sands
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published March 16, 2007

Economists and oilmen alike say the issue of Pemex -- and the central place it holds in Mexico's national identity -- has become the elephant in the room in discussions these days of spurring Mexican economic growth.
Both Mr. Bush and Mr. Calderon strongly endorsed the idea that domestic growth in Mexico is critical to solving tensions over illegal migration to the United States. The more jobs and economic outlets there are in Mexico's poorer regions, the less pressure there will be to head north.
Mr. Calderon gave a personal illustration of the scope of the problem in his press conference with Mr. Bush, acknowledging that he himself has close relatives who have gone to the United States in search of work. He told reporters they were farm laborers, and he could not say if they had entered the United States legally.
"We can truly stop [illegal] migration by building a kilometer of highway in [southern Mexico] than by building 10 kilometers of walls on the U.S.-Mexico border," the Mexican president said Tuesday at the outset of Mr. Bush's Mexico stay.
Pemex, a state-owned monopoly since 1938 and an indispensable source of revenue for government coffers, faces increasing cost and investment problems in a harshly competitive global oil market.