The issue of migration is one of the most significant changes in Mexican
foreign policy to take place during the administration of President Vicente
Fox (Castañeda, 2001: 89). Beyond the anecdotal and symbolic effect of the
holding of the first act of protocol with representatives of the migrant community
in the Los Pinos presidential residence, it is considered a “priority
issue” in the National Development Plan of 2001–2006. The need to
approach it with “a new and long-term focus” is expressed within the framework
of “a comprehensive negotiation [with the United States] that deals
with the structural roots of the phenomenon, its manifestations and effects,
and that considers attention to the migration issue as a shared responsibility”
(61)..