Mexican prez: Closing border a 'mistake'

The White House believes the president of Mexico is "making very good efforts in trying to help secure the border," even though Felipe Calderon has described the two nations' economies as "complementary" and has warned anyone believing closing the border between the two will solve the "lack of competitiveness" in the U.S. is "making a very, very big mistake."

Mexican President Calderon recently spent nearly a week in the United States lobbying for his nation's interests. According to a recent Bloomberg report, Calderon said the number of people abandoning his nation and moving into the United States as illegal aliens soon will be reduced by new job creation in Mexico and economic growth there.

"It's possible to transform Mexico from a nation that loses its best people to migration into a nation capable of generating opportunity for Mexicans on their own soil,'' he told an audience at Harvard.

"We are neighbors, we are friends and we must be allies," he said. "Whoever is the next president of the United States, this country can count on Mexico to deal in that direction."

He said the two nations have complementary economies, because of the availability of U.S. capital and the extensive Mexican labor potential.

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"The American economy is suffering, but if you take the point of view that the solution for this situation, the lack of competitiveness of the American economy, is closing the border, you're making a very, very big mistake," he said.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, however, told WND that President Bush believes Calderon is "making very good efforts in trying to help secure the border."

Her response came on a question from Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House.

"The AP reports that … Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, on his first trip to the United States, said, 'I need to change in Mexico the perception that the Americans are the enemy. And it is important to change the perception that the Mexicans are the enemy.' And my question: What evidence does President Bush have that Mexican troops and police are seriously halting Mexican illegal aliens from invading our country?" he asked.

"I don't think anybody here in this administration thinks that anyone from Mexico is an enemy, except for maybe those who are dealing drugs and violence on the border," Person responded.

"Well, I'm just quoting what the president of Mexico said…," said Kinsolving.

"We are working with the Calderon government. And President Calderon has said he's committed to working with us, and we actually have a package right now pending before Congress, in which we want to work with them in order to help make the border even more secure from – preventing illegal immigration, as well as helping stop drug trafficking and violence," Perino said.

"Does the president think the Mexicans have supported keeping our borders secure?" Kinsolving asked.

"I think the president believes President Calderon is making very good efforts in trying to help secure the border," she said.

In a column by Ruben Navarette of the Washington Post Writers Group, he said the situation has become a "fascinating turnabout."

"Not long ago, Mexicans were much too proud to think about the migrants who fled to the north searching for better opportunities," he concluded. "Now they're demanding that their leaders go to bat for these expatriates against what they see as a cruelty born of American xenophobia."

Calderon had set off fireworks even before he left on the trip, noting that "the most radical and anti-immigrant candidates" in the U.S. president race, "have been left behind."

He said it is "conservative talk show hosts" and others who now are creating a "hostile environment for all Mexicans in the United States."

He said many Americans make the serious mistake of believing Mexicans are their enemies.

"I hear it all the time. It's as if many Americans are waiting around for Mexico to solve our immigration problem by creating jobs south of the border or physically restraining those intent on crossing into the United States," Navarro wrote. "If so, they're going to be waiting a long time. Mexico now takes in about $23 billion annually in remittances from Mexicans living in the United States. It has no interest in turning off the golden faucet."

The comments from Calderon have the potential danger of being seen as lobbying for more privilege for immigrants, including illegal aliens, in the United States, one observer said.

"Calderon has to be very careful what he says," James Jones, a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, told reporters, or he runs the risk of provoking a "dangerous, emotional, anti-Mexico response."

In a second questions, Kinsolving asked whether the White House had developed further concerns over a flyover of a U.S. air craft carrier by a Russian bomber. The recent incident was downplayed initially by the White House.

"Agence France-Presse reports that the USS Nimitz launched four F-18 fighters to intercept a pair of Russian TU-95 bombers off Japan, and escort one of them as it flew over the carrier at an altitude of 2,000 feet. And my question: What was the reaction of the commander-in-chief to this?"

"The president said that the Department of Defense handled it well, and we didn't think of it as a hostile act. It was nothing that we were really concerned about," Perino said.

 

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