President Calderón on Friday once again urged the U.S. Congress to overhaul its immigration laws, insisting that both Mexico and the United States would benefit from reforms that recognize the "blood, sweat and tears" of migrant workers.Calderón said that while he respects the sovereignty of all nations, including the United States, the two countries´ "complementary" economies make the migration issue a binational one.
"(Both nations) need to understand migration cannot be initiated or canceled by decree," the president said Friday. "It is a natural phenomenon and an inevitable phenomenon, and it always will be as long as two neighboring economies such as ours are so clearly complementary."
Calderón also sought to deflect charges voiced by some U.S. politicians that Mexico is intentionally benefiting from sending its workforce across the border.
"We want to make it clear that we have no aspirations for migration to last forever," he said. "It´s not our objective to send migrants to the United States. We don´t like it when a Mexican leaves."
The president made his comments at a gathering in Mexico City of members of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad (IME), a creation of the Foreign Relations Secretariat charged with protecting the interests of Mexican migrants, mostly in the United States.
The institute´s advisory council is made up of expatriates.
"Mexico doesn´t stop at its political border," Calderón said. "Wherever there´s a Mexican, there´s Mexico."
Interrupted often by applause, the president told the IME members to take back a "message of affection" to the Mexicans working in the United States.
"Tell them we miss them," he said.
