mments prior to his visit to the country tells a much different story. He admitted that sweeping immigration reform would take years, probably beyond a firstBush term in office. And Bush had signaled that he is not ready to push immigrationreform plans.“Immigration is a very complex subject,” Bush told reporters on the eve of thevisit. Fox has requested special treatment for Mexicans, but Bush said, “I have explainedto him there is no appetite for blanket amnesty in Congress.”Granting legal status to illegals faces significant challenges in Congress, wheremany contend breaking US laws should not be rewarded--particularly as people fromother nations make their way through the lengthy legal immigration process.Bush was forced to back away from earlier statements on immigration reform. Hesuggested in July the administration was considering granting permanent legal status toup to 3 million undocumented Mexican immigrants. Now he says he favors a moremodest guest worker program, that would allow illegal immigrants to work here legally.Fox has had his own problems getting reforms passed by Mexico’s legislature in arocky year in which his upset election brought a new political party into power for thefirst time in seven decades. But his soaring popularity has begun to slip, as he promisedproviding 1.2 million new jobs to Mexicans, and the number of unemployment hasactually increased.North of the border, Bush has found a ray of light coming from the Senate. Recently, they passed a bill that will extend the deadline for illegal immigrants to applyfor visas by one year. This timely effort will undoubtedly serve as a message to Fox,indicating that the US is serious about the negotiations with Mexico. It also opens up aflood gate that could elicit many improvements to the immigration process in the nearfuture....
