The Senate has authorized President Vicente Fox's trip to the United States in November, under the condition that he demand respect for the human rights of his compatriots who are in that country illegally. According to the Constitution, the president must ask the Senate for authorization to leave the country.
Fox is scheduled to travel to the United States from Nov. 4-6 to visit the three U.S. states along the countries' mutual border Arizona, New Mexico and Texas and through which the majority of illegal immigrants enter the United States.
Legislators asked Fox to "make U.S. authorities aware of the importance of establishing measures that would allow legal, safe and orderly immigration for mutual benefit."
They also requested that Fox "stress that the human and labor rights of Mexican immigrants currently living in the United States must be respected, independent of their immigration status."
Some four million illegal Mexicans live in the United States, and tens of thousands cross the border illegally every year in search of economic opportunities.
One of Fox's top priorities is to negotiate a migration agreement to regulate the flow of immigrants and legalize their status, but talks were suspended in 2001 after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Fox plans to meet with the governors of the three states, as well as representatives from business and academia, to urge political dialogue to regulate Mexican immigration, promote trade and attend to the needs of the Mexican community in the United States.
Fox is not expected to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush.
More than one million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans live in Arizona, a state bordering Sonora, and it is along this border that a great number of Mexicans trying to reach U.S. soil are either taken into custody by U.S. immigration authorities or die in the desert.
