MEXICO CITY -- President Vicente Fox said Saturday that he has won a pledge
from President Bush to work toward legalizing some of the millions of
Mexicans employed illegally in the United States.

Speaking on his weekly radio program, Fox expressed delight with the two
presidents' meeting Friday, saying it opened a path to increased
cooperation on issues ranging from migration to drug trafficking and energy.

Disclosing the first details of the migration talks, Fox said: "The
commitment of President Bush and our commitment is to seek that all those
Mexicans who are there without documents or illegally be considered legal
workers."

That would mean the workers could receive Social Security and other
benefits and could travel back and forth from Mexico freely, not sneak
across the border.

"This is marvelous. Never has a possibility like this been spoken of
before," Fox said.

Mexican media, however, criticized Bush for undermining the meeting at
Fox's ranch in Guanajuato state by sending U.S. warplanes to bomb Iraqi air
defense sites on the same day and thus stealing the summit's thunder.

Fox played down the timing and declined comment on the bombing.

The two men agreed to meet every six months to discuss the multitude of
thorny problems the two countries share, including migration, drug
trafficking and trade, Fox said.

The Mexican president also said he expects the current U.S. policy of
unilateral certification of Mexico's commitment to fight the drug trade to
be replaced by a new, joint approach involving cooperation at the highest
level.

In the past, U.S.-Mexican efforts to stop traffickers have been constrained
by American suspicions of corruption in Mexican law enforcement agencies.
Bush said Friday that he trusted Fox's determination to go after the drug
cartels.

On Saturday, Fox disclosed that he and Bush had agreed that the two nations
will form a combined team to oversee the fight against drugs.

Fox said he welcomed Bush's recognition during a joint news conference
Friday that U.S. consumption feeds the drug cartels and corruption in Mexico.

"This acknowledgment is the first in history from a president of that
country," Fox said.

A senior Mexican official said the two presidents also dealt in detail with
their energy and water problems and broached ideas for joint solutions.

Fox said that Bush had assured the Mexicans "of his commitment to the total
respect for human rights, his total commitment to avoiding violence and
avoiding bad treatment of our citizens on the road to the United States."