MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Immigration reform in Bush-Fox agenda

Democrat congressional leaders called on U.S. President George W. Bush and his Mexican counterpart Vicente Fox, to take action in reforming the current immigration system.

Mr. Bush and Mr. Fox are scheduled to meet Wednesday in President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, along with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, to discuss trade, security and immigration.

Democrat minority leaders in the Senate, Harry Reid, and House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, sent a letter to both presidents advising them of "the urgent need" to reform the current immigration system.

"At this time of heightened concern about our national security, the federal government needs to know who is living in our country and who is crossing our borders", the Democrat leaders wrote. "We need immigration laws that are humane, realistic and fair, and we need effective enforcement of those laws." The two congressional leaders also called on Mr. Bush and Mr. Fox to take into account some fundamental principles when considering the reforms.

These include family reunification, legalization, security and border protection, a program for temporary workers, and respect for the civil and constitutional rights of immigrants, as well as legislative initiatives for legalizing the status of immigrants who are students.

Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi advanced that the current atmosphere in Congress was propitious for moving ahead with the much needed immigration reform.

Several million undocumented Mexicans are believed to be living and working in the United States, with annual money remittances almost 18 billion US dollars, one of Mexico's main foreign money earnings.