Mexican President Vicente Fox urged a cheering crowd of thousands in a Pilsen park on Sunday to give their hearts and dollars to Mexico, promising that he will push the Bush administration to expand immigration.
In his first visit to Chicago since ending the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s seven-decade grip on power, Fox issued a call for unity to Mexicans and Mexican-Americans at a rally in the Pilsen neighborhood’s Harrison Park, reinforcing the symbiotic relationship between the president and his people living abroad.
Flashing his trademark “V” sign as he took the stage to the strains of a mariachi band, Fox told the group of more than 5,000 that Mexicans back home admire and respect them for their struggles in seeking a better life in the United States.
“One hundred million Mexicans are with you,” Fox said. “We are beside you, shoulder to shoulder. We want to fight for a better future for our children.”
While protesters voiced their discontent over a variety of issues, the majority of the crowd saw the occasion as an opportunity to celebrate.
“This is a great day for the entire neighborhood,” said Blanca Mendez, a retiree who came to the U.S. about 25 years ago.
After the rally, expected to be the emotional high point of Fox’s two-day visit to Chicago, he attended a community meeting at Benito Juarez High School and dined at the University of Chicago with President Don Randel and others.
On Monday, Fox is scheduled to address the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, meet with Gov. George Ryan, Mayor Richard Daley and local business executives, and make his pitch to potential investors at the Economic Club of Chicago.
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Fox’s five-day U.S. tour will force him to confront delicate questions on immigration and to appeal for greater investment in the Mexican economy.
Although Fox has said he favors an open border, in which Mexicans would be free to come to the U.S. to seek jobs but not remain permanently, his support has cooled for a sweeping amnesty program for undocumented Mexicans living in the U.S.
A White House task force on immigration is expected to issue a report Monday urging President Bush to rethink U.S. immigration policy–possibly granting permanent legal status to more than 3 million undocumented Mexicans.
Amid shouts for legalization from a vocal minority at the Pilsen rally, Fox said he supports “a sort of legal recognition and status” for every Mexican working in the U.S. “so they won’t have to hide from anyone.”
Seeking push for amnesty
Amnesty backers, trying to collect 200,000 signatures of support in Illinois, said they were disappointed that Fox did not confront the amnesty issue head-on. They hope to collect 1 million signatures to present to Bush before a scheduled September meeting with Fox.
Fox’s visit brought out activists of all stripes, with groups calling for better treatment of indigenous people in the Mexican state of Chiapas, a new high school in Chicago’s Little Village, funding for undocumented Mexicans needing organ transplants, and overdue payments from the Mexican and U.S. governments to braceros, guest workers during World War II.
Fox’s visit electrified a Mexican community that, at more than 530,000 residents, ranks second in size only to that of Los Angeles. Chicago’s Mexican population has grown 50 percent since 1990.
Celebrity’s welcome
As Fox made his way to the park from a reception at the adjacent Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, revelers rushed the barricades as if he were a rock star. They clicked cameras over their heads hoping to capture him on film. Later, the rancher and former Coca-Cola executive plunged into the crowd with aplomb.
“I could have watched this on television, but I came to show my president that I support him,” said Misael Avila, a pressman from Palos Heights. “We appreciate the fact that he’s the type of person who doesn’t want to be just with the politicians.”
Even Ryan joined in the revelry, exhorting the crowd in Spanish: “Viva Mexico! Viva Fox!”
A central goal of Fox’s Midwest tour is to boost small and medium-size businesses in Mexico by wooing foreign investment from corporations and from Mexicans living abroad.
On Saturday, Fox was the keynote speaker at an information and technology conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. His schedule included meetings with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and other technology executives.
On Monday afternoon, Fox will go to Detroit to meet with auto executives. On Tuesday, he is to speak in Milwaukee at the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group.
At a town meeting Sunday night, several hundred community leaders presented a list of demands. They included expanded consular services, allowing illegal immigrants to receive a driver’s license without a Social Security number, and fighting money-transfer firms that charge high fees for sending money to Mexico.
Matching funds program
Fox urged Mexicans in Chicago to participate in a project in which the government will provide matching funds if they invest in for-profit ventures. Immigrants already send $8 billion each year back to Mexico.
Fox called Mexican immigrants “the greatest asset our country has.” He noted that the gross product of Mexican-American labor surpasses that of Mexicans in Mexico.
Fox lauded all who attended the town meeting.
“What a profound spirit of solidarity you have with not only your families but also your community,” he said. “We won’t defraud you.”
At Sunday evening’s dinner in the home of U. of C. President Randel, Fox met with professors, who described him as “charismatic and open.”
“What I liked about him was the openness,” said Frederick Katz, a history professor and Mexico scholar. “Other Mexican presidents have sometimes tried to hide the problems. He was pretty open in saying . . . that Mexico has one of the highest degrees of inequality of any country in terms of income.
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“His answer to the problems was education, and in that sense he had a very responsive audience,” Katz said.