WASHINGTON – President Bush yesterday told Mexico’s visiting leader that he’ll put “100 percent effort” into trying to solve the illegal-immigrant problem, but hinted it won’t get done this year.
Mexican President Vicente Fox is pushing for a fast deal on immigration reform to legalize undocumented workers by year’s end.
“It’s an incredibly complex issue,” said Bush, who noted his goal is to find a formula that doesn’t penalize people “who have stood in line” waiting for legal visas instead of illegally coming here to work.
Fox got a near-rock-star welcome when he spoke, in English spiced with Spanish, to the U.S. Congress yesterday and pushed immigration reform as a symbol of “trust.”
Legalizing undocumented workers is a delicate issue for Bush because most Americans oppose it, especially conservative Republicans.
But a central theme in Bush’s political campaigns as a “different kind of Republican” has been his openness to immigrants, his appeal to Latinos, and his stress that “family values don’t stop at the Rio Grande.”