MEXICO PUSHES BUSH FOR HELP IN DRUG WAR

MERIDA, Mexico - President Bush sought to soothe strained ties with
Mexico on Tuesday by promising to prod Congress to overhaul tough
U.S. immigration policies. But Mexican President Felipe Calderon
criticized U.S. plans for a 700-mile border fence and said Bush must
do more to curb American drug appetites.

Mexico was the last stop on Bush's five-nation Latin American tour,
and the one where the political stakes seemed the highest.

Bush walked a high wire: He wants to improve frayed ties over
immigration and drug trafficking and the Iraq war, but without
alienating supporters back home, particularly Republican lawmakers
advocating stiff penalties against undocumented workers.

The president also was distracted by problems at home.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales acknowledged mistakes were made in
the firing of eight federal prosecutors, and that the White House was
involved in discussions of who would be dismissed and when.

This was Bush's first meeting with Calderon since the
Harvard-educated Mexican conservative took office Dec. 1 after a
razor-thin victory.

They clashed, though gently.

Welcoming Bush to a restored hacienda on the sun-drenched Yucatan
Peninsula, Calderon said it would be hard to reduce Mexico's drug
production while demand remains high in the United States.

"We need the collaboration and the active participation of our
neighbor," Calderon said.

Bush and Calderon - both pro-business conservatives - acknowledged
their differences and vowed to work together.

Calderon said it was time for a fresh start to "direct our
relationship toward a path of mutual prosperity."

"Geography has made our countries neighbors, but the choice we've
made for each other is a choice for freedom," said Bush. "And that
choice has made us friends."

Happy talk aside, relations between the two neighbors have worsened
since Bush last year signed a law calling for construction of fencing
along the long border the two countries share. Calderon has ridiculed
the fence - a mix of physical and high-tech barriers - and likens it
to the Berlin Wall.

Calderon argued that the fence would do little to stem illegal
migration. But he also praised Bush for pushing for immigration
reforms, and acknowledged that improving economic conditions and
generating more jobs in Mexico "is the only way in order to truly
solve the migratory issue."

It is questionable whether the full 700-mile fence will be built. A
bill authorizing the fence did not come with any new funding, and the
$1.2 billion that Congress previously approved is not enough. A
14-mile stretch under construction in the San Diego area is estimated
to cost $126.5 million.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said last month that
border official all 700 miles may not be necessary.

Bush has been having a hard time lining up support from his own
Republican party for his proposals to establish a guest worker
program and a path to citizenship for some of the 12 million
undocumented workers already in the United States. He has said he
hopes for movement, at least in the Senate, by August, but he faces
daunting obstacles.

"In the debate on migration, I remind my fellow citizens that family
values do not stop at the Rio Grande River, that there are decent,
hardworking honorable citizens of Mexico who want to make a living
for their families," Bush said as he stood beside Calderon. "And so,
Mr. President, my pledge to you and your government - but, more
importantly, the people of Mexico - is I will work as hard as I
possibly can to pass comprehensive immigration reform."

Calderon's complaints about the fence marked the second day in a row
that Bush drew a rebuke from a host. In Guatemala on Monday,
President Oscar Berger complained about roundups in the United States
of undocumented Guatemalans.

Presidential counselor Dan Bartlett said such reactions are to be
expected. In Mexico and in Guatemala, as in the United States,
migration "is a very emotional debate," Bartlett said. He said Bush
wasn't taken off guard by the criticisms. Those leaders "are very
concerned about their fellow citizens that are living in the United
States at this time," Bartlett said.

The president and his wife, Laura, also were taking in a tour of the
nearby Uxmal Ruins, the remains of an ancient sprawling Mayan city.

Security was extremely tight in Merida. Schools were closed. The area
around the hotels where Bush and Calderon are staying was guarded by
police and surrounded by metal barriers.