Los Angeles – Fabian Nuñez, the speaker of the California State Assembly, on Monday called the upcoming visit of Mexican President Vicente Fox to this state timely and positive, adding that it was entirely separate from any political campaign designed to favor Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In an interview with EFE, Nuñez said that it was the Democrat-controlled legislature that invited Fox to give a speech before the full assembly on May 25.
Schwarzenegger, a Republican, echoed the idea and then proposed that the Mexican leader include other activities on his trip’s agenda.
However, not everybody is looking with enthusiasm on the visit.
Organizations such as Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana (Latin American Mexican Brotherhood) want Fox’s visit to be cancelled, saying that it is part of the governor’s strategy to win Hispanic supporters with an eye toward his reelection in November.
Nuñez, a Democrat, disagreed with that assessment and offered a series of reasons justifying why Fox’s visit to California is timely, in particular given the increased attention currently being focused on immigration reform.
“Fox always has said that the problem of immigration is a shared problem, and Americans have to listen to that because they think that Mexico is taking no responsibility for this situation, which is not correct,” Nuñez said.
He added that, from his point of view, “President Fox has taken a very intelligent position with respect to the immigration problem through his injection of resources to combat the problem of drug trafficking and crime along the border.”
In addition to the immigration issue, the Mexican leader will speak before the California Assembly about matters of economic interest to both the United States and Mexico.
“Mexico is, for California, the first and most important trade partner. Mexican businessmen annually inject $15 billion into the state economy and that is something that has to be made known,” said Nuñez.
He also said that he had asked Schwarzenegger not to support sending California National Guard units to the border in response to President George W. Bush’s proposal to deploy up to 6,000 such troops along the frontier over the next year to help stem illegal immigration.
Nuñez said that the deployment of the Guard in the border region is just an effort by Bush to gain supporters on the extreme right.
“The Republicans are on the verge of losing control of Congress. They have to try to get along with the extreme right,” he said.
