Mexico Tries a Slower Path To Changes on Immigration

Strategy Includes Strengthening Domestic Job Market

By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, March 12, 2007; A09

MEXICO CITY -- When President Bush lands in the Yucatan colonial city of Merida on Monday night, he will encounter a new Mexican government that wants the same thing the old one wanted: comprehensive immigration reform in the United States.

What's different is that Mexican President Felipe Calderón, in office since December, is trying a slower and subtler approach. Calderón and his lieutenants have even invented a buzzword to define their strategy, saying they will "desmigratizar" the bilateral agenda, or remove immigration from the forefront of U.S.-Mexico relations.

"He's having to find a new vocabulary," said Juan Hernández, who headed a cabinet-level office for Mexicans living abroad during the administration of Calderón's predecessor, Vicente Fox.

Calderón has spoken out against U.S. border policy, calling border fences "deplorable" and predicting that security measures will lead to an increase in migrant deaths. Still, the president's top aides say he is convinced that, to achieve immigration reform, he must demonstrate to the U.S. Congress that Mexico is willing to address the factors propelling illegal migration, especially the country's weak job market and low standard of living.