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Richard Piatt and Randall Jeppesen ReportingTony Yapias, Community Activist: "I hope we can strengthen our cultural, educational and business relationships with Mexico."
Big plans for a big visit. Leaders on both sides of the immigration debate are preparing for the arrival of Mexican President Vicente Fox. President Fox arrives in Salt Lake in less than 24 hours. He will attend a number of private meetings, a state dinner, and finally an address to a joint session of the legislature.
For a lot of people, President Fox's visit may sound interesting, but is it really a big deal? The answer is yes, even if you just consider that a trip from any head of state to Utah is very rare.
They're cleaning up the house chamber, making the most of the cramped space that will be used for President Fox's Capitol Hill visit. But behind the scenes, there is a lot of curiosity about Fox's trip to Utah. Why now? Will it change anything? And will he really address illegal immigration?
Speaker of the House Greg Curtis says he's excited about the Presidential visit. He's looking forward to strengthening economic ties between Utah and Mexico.
Greg Curtis: "I think it will be a great opportunity to dialogue on some of the issues that are important to both of our countries."
From the Governor's office there's been a positive prediction.
Michael Mower, Spokesman, Governor Huntsman: "We're anxious for him to learn about our issues and concerns, and do a lot to develop increased cultural ties, economic ties."
President Fox's coming here is unique; visits from heads of state are rare to Utah. The Governor will host the first state dinner in years.
Access to Fox will be extremely limited. Even a scheduled press conference for Wednesday was cancelled today. His people say his schedule is tight, but he is also walking a political tightrope on immigration right now.
The trip is on Governor Huntsman's request, but Fox is also motivated to show he's doing something positive about immigration issues. For Utah, talk about trade and business is also important.
Miguel Rovira, State Economic Development: "I think the economic development perspective is more important because Mexico is one of our great trading partners. And for the past three years we've been trending up, exports from Utah to Mexico."
Members of the Legislature are generally honored Fox will visit, but it's possible some might withhold applause, or show another sign of dissatisfaction with unresolved immigration issues.
