U.S. Border Control

Bush, Fox PR consultant to help Mexico improve its image in US

December 30, 2005

Mexican President Vincente Fox recently retained the services of a well-known Republican strategist to help stop the rising tide of public outcry over poor border security and rampant illegal immigration.

President Fox reportedly rehired the public relations man and GOP political consultant who is credited with helping him win the presidency in 2000. Fox wants Rob Allyn to curtail what he perceives as a growing anti-immigration political juggernaut, especially when it comes to illegal aliens from Mexico.

When the House of Representatives passed a key bill that would provide an additional 700 miles of border fencing on the US-Mexican border, and would make illegally entering the US a felony, Fox denounced the measure as shameful. His foreign minister called it stupid and underhanded.

The Mexican government's comments about US policy appears to have backfired, with many Americans demanding Mexico butt out of American politics and policy.

"Most Americans don't buy the argument about illegals helping the US economy. Illegal workers depress wages, deplete available social and healthcare services, and create crime problems," says homeland security expert Sid Francis. "If Mexico wants sympathy from US citizens, calling them stupid and underhanded isn't going to do it.”

The immigration bill, scheduled to reach the Senate in February, falls short of giving President Bush and President Fox their desired "guest worker" program that would benefit Mexicans almost exclusively.

Fox will not seek reelection in 2006, but does wish to leave a legacy that provides easier access to the United States, so he's turned to a GOP insider to help him. The conventional wisdom is that the Republican Party is tougher on national security and homeland security, so they are the leaders to whom he must plead his cause.

So Fox called on GOP strategist Rob Allyn, the man who assisted George W. Bush in beating Governor Ann Richards for the State House in Texas. When Vincente Fox, then governor of Guanajuato state, began his campaign for the Mexican presidency, Allyn joined Fox's presidential campaign, with the stipulation that Allyn's role remain secret.

According to the Los Angeles Times, for three years, Allyn worked clandestinely, helping craft Fox's message of change, as well as his TV commercials, his polling and his wardrobe. Allyn made dozens of trips to Mexico, traveling under one of three pseudonyms.

After the July election, Allyn told the Dallas Morning News he hid his work for Fox because he didn't want to be a political liability. Mexicans are sensitive to foreign interference, especially involving the United States.

Some Beltway insiders believe that Allyn, who also worked on the Bush presidential campaigns, may have been urged to help Vincente Fox with immigration public relations work by the White House.

According to Allyn, he will attempt to sway public opinion away from tougher border security measures and increased penalties for surreptitiously entering the US. His strategy is likely intended to change the debate regarding illegal immigration as calls for tighter illegal immigration measures are grow louder in the United States and Mexican and Central American workers multiply yearly.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez, whose vitriolic statements have made him very unpopular with conservative Republicans in the U.S., said Allyn's message should be that Mexicans have sunk roots deep in their US neighborhoods and that they contribute more through their work, taxes and families than they take away in public services. However, studies conducted by several non-profit organizations casts doubt on that argument.