ASSOCIATED PRESS

November 11, 2006

Mexican president-elect optimistic about immigration accord

By Laura Kurtzman, The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY - A day after meeting with President Bush, Mexico President-elect Felipe Calderon said Friday he was optimistic Washington will push through a comprehensive immigration overhaul.

Calderon made the comments during a meeting with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is a strong supporter of a guest-worker program.

Schwarzenegger, on a two-day trade mission to Mexico, was accompanied by California farmers who have complained that a crackdown on immigration has caused them labor shortages.

During his visit, the governor said a planned U.S. border wall is "an incomplete way" of solving illegal immigration and said both California and Mexico would benefit from legalizing workers. Schwarzenegger also invited Calderon to visit California in the spring.

Calderon has called the U.S. plan to build a 700-mile fence along the nearly 2,000-mile border "deplorable" and compared it to the construction of the Berlin Wall.

Bush, who signed the law authorizing the fence on Oct. 26, also wants more temporary worker permits for foreigners willing to take low-wage jobs and a path for illegal immigrants working in the United States for some time to become citizens. But the Republican-dominated Congress has not agreed.

With Democrats taking over, some have expressed hope there may be movement on a migration accord.