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The Texan who advised President Vicente Fox’s election campaign will now try to sweeten U.S. views on immigration.
MEXICO CITY – President Vicente Fox has rehired the Texas public relations man and GOP political consultant who quietly helped engineer his election victory in 2000. This time, Fox wants Rob Allyn & Co. to put the brakes on growing anti-immigration, anti-Mexican sentiment in the United States.
Last week, the U.S. House approved a bill to add 700 miles of border fencing and make illegal immigration a felony. Fox denounced the measure as shameful. His foreign minister called it stupid and underhanded.
‘‘The contributions of Mexicans in the United States, who are making their best effort, generating lots of wealth, are not known,’’ said Rodrigo Iván Cortés Jiménez, an elected deputy in Mexico’s lower house and a member of its commission on foreign affairs.
The immigration bill, expected to reach the Senate in February, has no provision for allowing temporary Mexican workers – a further slap, in Fox’s view. He and President Bush agree on the need for a ‘‘guest worker’’ program.
Fox cannot seek reelection next year, and his legacy may rest in part on his pledges to secure an agreement with the United States to grant legal status to the millions of Mexicans living and working illegally north of the border.
MEXICO CITY – President Vicente Fox has rehired the Texas public relations man and GOP political consultant who quietly helped engineer his election victory in 2000. This time, Fox wants Rob Allyn & Co. to put the brakes on growing anti-immigration, anti-Mexican sentiment in the United States.
Last week, the U.S. House approved a bill to add 700 miles of border fencing and make illegal immigration a felony. Fox denounced the measure as shameful. His foreign minister called it stupid and underhanded.
‘‘The contributions of Mexicans in the United States, who are making their best effort, generating lots of wealth, are not known,’’ said Rodrigo Iván Cortés Jiménez, an elected deputy in Mexico’s lower house and a member of its commission on foreign affairs.
The immigration bill, expected to reach the Senate in February, has no provision for allowing temporary Mexican workers – a further slap, in Fox’s view. He and President Bush agree on the need for a ‘‘guest worker’’ program.
Fox cannot seek reelection next year, and his legacy may rest in part on his pledges to secure an agreement with the United States to grant legal status to the millions of Mexicans living and working illegally north of the border.