President George W. Bush tried to reassure increasingly skeptical Mexicans yesterday that he has not given up on overhauling US immigration policy despite failing in Congress last year.
Mr Bush told Mexican President Felipe Calderon in their first summit meeting he would try again to convince US lawmakers to pass his plans to soften immigration laws and allow a guest worker program.
"My pledge to you and your government, but more importantly the people of Mexico, is that I will work as hard as I possibly can to pass comprehensive immigration reform," Mr Bush said at a luxury hotel set on farm grounds on the outskirts of the southeastern Mexican city of Merida.
Mexico's importance to US business and trade is unrivaled in Latin America. Yet a sense of neglect has set in as Mr Bush, who promised to make Mexico a priority when he took office in 2001, has become distracted by the Iraq war, which has made him even more unpopular in Latin America than he is at home.
In Mexico City, hundreds of demonstrators protested Mr Bush's visit by throwing rocks at heavily armoured riot police guarding the US Embassy.
Police tossed rocks back from behind a security fence, then charged at the rioters, dispersing them with tear gas. A handful of police were injured and three protesters were arrested, a police spokesman said.
Rowdy demonstrations have greeted Mr Bush during his Latin American tour.
Mexicans make up more than half of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, and Mexico is upset at US plans to build a security fence along parts of the border to curb illegal immigration.
Mr Calderon, a conservative who took office last December, was blunt in private talks with Mr Bush. The Mexican leader expressed "deep concerns about whether or not America can pass such a law," Mr Bush said.
Mr Calderon also criticized the plan to build security fencing along 700 miles (1,120 km) of border.
Mexico posed a complex challenge for Mr Bush on the final stop of a Latin American tour aimed at shoring up his standing and countering the anti-US influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Mr Calderon told a Mexican newspaper he did not have high hopes for Mr Bush's visit, which ends today, and said he wanted Mexico to get closer to Communist-run Cuba.