No Blanket Amnesty for Undocumented Mexicans to Legalize Status
WASHINGTON, July 20 (News Agencies) - Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday that the United States' plan to help illegal Mexican immigrants legalize their status will not include blanket amnesty for the more than three million undocumented Mexicans living in the country.
"At the moment, we are coming up with a series of recommendations that will be presented [to US President George W. Bush] in due course," Powell said at a press conference here, adding that the proposals "do not at the moment include just simply a blanket amnesty for everybody who is in the country."
But he said he expects the recommendations to both "include ways for some of those who are in the country to remain in the country and try ... to make it a more fair and equitable system that serves the interests of both countries."
A committee led by Powell and Attorney General John Ashcroft is currently considering a number of ways Mexicans could legalize their status, based on employment history and how long they have lived in the United States.
Powell said he would review the recommendations with his Mexican counterpart, Jorge Castaneda, and justice officials from both countries in meetings scheduled for August 9th in Washington.
"We're very pleased that the Mexicans have said clearly that this is something both of us have to work on and it's not just an American problem," Powell said, adding that, "we've had some excellent meetings with our Mexican colleagues."
"We're proud of the fact that we offer opportunities for people to come to this country and make a living - some to go back, some to ultimately become American citizens," he said.
"We want to regularize this. We want to make it less dangerous, less threatening to become a citizen, if that is where your destiny takes you."
Bush has put Mexican policy at the top of his agenda, due in part to his history as governor of the border state of Texas, and he wants to announce a major immigration initiative at his September summit with Mexican President Vicente Fox, The New York Times reported Sunday.
