Mexican President Vicente Fox said Thursday that while President Bush's plan to liberalize U.S. immigration law was a good start, he intends to press for further reforms that would loosen restrictions on Mexican immigration to the U.S.
"We're going for more. We're going for more," Fox told reporters while visiting a Mexican shelter for street children.
While announcing his intention to press Bush to go even further, Fox praised the president for taking "a great step forward," adding that he deserved partial credit for the breakthrough.
"It is an achievement of the measures we have been taking during these [last] three years," he told the Associated Press.
In a 2000 interview, Fox outlined his goal for fully open borders between the U.S. and Mexico within 10 years.
"I'm talking about a community of North America, an integrated agreement of Canada, the United States and Mexico in the long term, 20, 30, 40 years from now," he told PBS's Jim Lehrer "That may mean in 10 years we can open up that border when we have reduced the gap in salaries and income."
In a 2002 interview, Fox rejected the term "illegal alien."
"They are not illegals. They are not illegals," he told Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes." "They are people that come there to work, to look for a better opportunity in life. ... They are there because the U.S. economy needs them."
President Bush intends to brief President Fox on his new plan during the Jan. 12-13 "Summit of the Americas" in Mexico.
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