The increasingly vexed question of immigration

摘要

The defeat, on 29~(th) June, of an immigration bill before the US Senate provoked extraordinary bitterness in Central America and Mexico. The measure, an awkward patchwork, even so would have eased the way to legal-resident status and ultimate citizenship for the estimated 12 million undocumented people now in the US. In the view of El Salvador's President Elfas Antonio Saca its defeat was 'a pity.' Mexico's President Felipe Calderon called it 'a grave error.' Manuel Roig-Franzia, reporting from Mexico City for the Washington Post, observed that Mr Calderon has been taking a more aggressive stance toward the US than his predecessor, Vicente Fox, whose personal friendship with US President George W Bush had appeared to enhance the prospects for an immigration accord. Mr Bush pushed hard for the bill, which represented probably his last chance to put his personal stamp on important new federal policy.