Mexico Rebukes U.S. Candidates On Migrant Issues

By Manuel Roig-Franzia

Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, January 8, 2008; A16

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 7 -- Mexico's foreign minister accused U.S. presidential candidates Monday of worsening an already "adverse climate" for Mexican migrants and vowed to redouble efforts to protect the rights of her country's citizens living and working in the United States.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of a conference for Mexican diplomats here, Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa Cantellano said, "Being effective in the defense and support of the migrants implies treating them the same way whether they are in Mexico or outside of the country." She did not specify what steps would be taken.

Mexican officials have said they are concerned that migrants are being treated unfairly in workplaces and, in some cases, being denied public services. The presidential campaign has frequently inflamed tensions on issues related to immigration.

"Given the adverse climate that prevails for the Mexican community in the United States, aggravated by the electoral debate in that country, we also have to give particular attention to the problems confronted by our migrants," Espinosa Cantellano told an audience of hundreds of Mexican diplomats.

Her remarks were the latest in a series of high-profile jabs at U.S. presidential candidates and lawmakers by top Mexican officials, and represent a dramatic rhetorical shift in Mexico's capital.

"Times are changing," Lorenzo Meyer, a historian in Mexico City, said in an interview. "In the past, when Mexico's foreign policy was based on a principle of nonintervention, it was a taboo for Mexican leaders to talk about internal affairs of other countries, especially the United States."

In November, Mexican President Felipe Calderon called migrants "hostages" of the presidential campaign and urged candidates not to use them as talking points. Calderon also criticized the U.S. Senate in June, calling its rejection of an immigration reform measure "a grave error."