"From what we know of the initiatives in the Congress, they seem very interesting," Fox said in an interview with Cox Newspapers on Friday at Los Pinos.

"For us, of course, it is worthwhile to keep on top of their progress and development, and to contact and have dialogues with the congressional representatives who have presented these initiatives. Some of them are bipartisan, which seems to give them more value," said Fox, who will travel Tuesday through Thursday to Phoenix, Santa Fe, N.M., and Austin, Texas.

"I think this could be an avenue to progress on migration," Fox said of the proposals. "We welcome them, we are analyzing them with interest, and we will follow them."

After Fox assumed the presidency in December 2000, he broke with tradition and tried to make pursuit of a migration accord with the United States a centerpiece of his government. President Bush had initially expressed great enthusiasm, but the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the U.S. economic downturn torpedoed progress.

Now, immigration reform bills introduced this year in the Congress and a brief but friendly meeting between Fox and Bush last month in Bangkok appear to have opened a narrow window for bringing about limited reforms.

"It's a return to the theme, with the clear understanding on the part of two presidents that we do not want to stir more expectations that this should," Fox said.

The congressional proposals include a bill introduced in July by Sen. John Cornyn, RTexas, that would offer guestworker visas with limited time periods to undocumented workers already in the United States. Another version of a guest-worker program bill was proposed by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Senators Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Bob Graham, D-Fla., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, are backing a proposed amnesty that could affect as many as 500,000 undocumented farm laborers.

After visits with Arizona Gov. Jane Napolitano and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, both Democrats, Fox arrives in Austin on Wednesday and dines with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican. Guests at the dinner include Texas mayors and Hispanic politicians.

Fox was scheduled to meet Perry in Texas in August 2002, but he canceled the journey to protest the execution of a Mexican national convicted of murder. Mexico opposes the death penalty and has argued that some Mexican nationals facing it are often deprived of international rights after their arrests and during U.S. trials.

While in Austin, Fox on Thursday will spotlight the controversial "matricula consular" identification cards that Mexico issues to all immigrants, legal and illegal, in the United States. Fox will present a Mexican government award of appreciation to Austin Police Chief Rudy Landeros and a Wells Fargo Bank representative, Rick Burciaga, for being the first police and banking officials in the United States to accept the matriculas as valid identification.

A rash of robberies of Mexican immigrants carrying cash in Austin prompted police and bankers to cooperate on a project to persuade immigrants to open bank accounts. Wells Fargo has seen an explosion in the number of bank accounts immigrants are opening since it began accepting the matricula.

Dozens of state and local police departments, government offices and banks across the country have decided to accept the cards. But a movement in opposition to the matricula has also sprung up, with opponents calling the cards a potential danger to national security and a step closer to an amnesty for illegal immigrants.

In Friday's interview, Fox defended the cards.

"Whoever has that matricula consular has it because he identified himself, proved where he was from his origins. It is like any other security document that serves institutions," Fox said.

He dismissed accusations that the cards were an attempt to gain U.S. legal residency.

The card "is not a substitute for official documents," he said. "It does not offer additional benefits within American society. It simply identifies who is carrying it. And that has value."

While in Texas, Fox also expects to talk to Perry about border security, commerce and Mexico's water debt to the United States, which affects Texas farmers. Mexico has failed to release sufficient amounts of water from its dams into the Rio Grande River for several years, U.S. officials say.

In all three states, Fox expects to also meet with business representatives.

"Because it's Austin," Fox said, "we want to see high-tech business people in electronics and other areas, including oil and manufacturing."

He said that "mutually beneficial investments'' will help Mexico and the United States, as members of the North American trading bloc, help confront competition from other trading blocs in Asia, including those China is becoming involved in.

In all three states, Fox is expected to meet with large groups of Mexican immigrant representatives.

One of the largest of those meetings will take place at the University of Texas in Austin, where Fox aides say he's expected to make an important speech.

Fox's trip to the American Southwest gives him a stage to drum up support for migration reforms in a region with strong ties to Mexico in business and culture.

Fox said the regional trip "is about maintaining the dialogue, about being close to our countrymen, and about exchanging reflections on this (migration) theme with the governors, political leaders, all with the understanding that this is a federal matter. But the relationship is so intense on the border, and migration, especially, is an indispensable theme for discussion."