Mexican Leader Decries U.S. Anti-Immigrant Views
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — President Calderon of Mexico yesterday decried anti-immigrant perceptions in America and argued that Mexican immigrants complement American workers.
On his first trip to America as Mexico’s president, Mr. Calderon said he is working to combat anti-Americanism in Mexico and to improve job prospects there to reduce migration. He said he hopes that Americans resist anti-Mexican sentiments.
“The worst thing that happened in this country is this anti-Mexican or anti-immigrant perception of people. We need to contain this,” Mr. Calderon said after a speech at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
“I need to change in Mexico the perception that the Americans are the enemy, and it is important to change the perception that the Mexicans are the enemy,” he said. “We are neighbors, we are friends and we must be allies.”
The combination of American wealth and Mexican labor is an irresistible economic force, Mr. Calderon said.
“You have two economies. One economy is intensive in capital, which is the American economy. One economy is intensive in labor, which is the Mexican economy,” he said. “We are two complementary economies, and that phenomenon is impossible to stop.” Mr. Calderon’s trip has been billed as a high-stakes effort to shape the immigration debate during the American presidential race.
