[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 19 (Monday, May 12, 1997)]
[Pages 637-640]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Interview With the San Antonio Express News, the Los Angeles Times, and 
the Dallas Morning News

May 1, 1997

    The President. Hello?
    Elizabeth Shogren. Mr. President, good morning. This is Elizabeth 
Shogren with the L.A. Times.
    The President. Hi, Elizabeth.
    Ms. Shogren. How's it going?
    The President. Fine, thank you.

Mexico-U.S. Antidrug Efforts

    Ms. Shogren. I spoke with Senator Feinstein a couple minutes ago, 
and she mentioned to me some particular evidence of progress on drug 
issues that she'd like to see from your trip--in particular, indications 
from the Mexicans that they're going ahead with money-laundering law and 
will give DEA agents permission to carry sidearms. I wondered if you are 
going to press for measurable indications from Mexico of progress on the 
drug issues or if you have some other strategy?
    The President. Well, first of all, as you know because it's reported 
in the press today, the Mexicans have announced significant 
reorganization of their antidrug effort, which I think is very 
encouraging. And they have cooperated with us in a number of ways. As 
you know, we do have DEA agents assigned to our Embassy in Mexico City 
in a liaison capacity. We are committed, both of us, to increasing our 
law enforcement, counter-drug cooperation, and we're committed to the 
safety of our law enforcement personnel, and we're working with the 
Government of Mexico to make sure we can assure their security. So I 
feel that we will be able to resolve that.
    But our participation in task forces, in terms of being detailed to 
Mexico, will have to require some resolution of this safety issue, but 
we're working on it. They have done--in almost every other area, they 
have continued to cooperate with us and have produced a lot of results, 
and money laundering is the next thing we're working on.
    But I believe you'd have to say that Zedillo's government has worked 
with us. Now, we know what the problem is in a lot of these countries 
that are dealing with poor people, often living in reasonably remote 
areas and with unlimited amounts of money to try to corrupt local 
officials. But I believe that Zedillo and his team are committed to 
trying to work with us, not because they want to work with us any more 
than they want to clean up Mexico and have Mexico be a good place for 
the people who live there.
    We both have a huge stake in this anti-drug effort. Obviously, for 
us, we're trying to keep drugs from being imported into the United 
States; for them, they're trying to keep the narcotraffickers from 
undermining the integrity of their democracy and the long-term success 
and stability of their society.
    So I'm--that's why I've strongly supported continuing their 
certification status. I think they want to work with us, and we're going 
to keep doing it.
    Kathy Lewis. Mr. President, this is Kathy Lewis [Dallas Morning 
News].
    The President. Hi, Kathy.
    Ms. Lewis. Hi. There was a report this weekend that the U.S. has 
quietly been debating proposals to impose economic penalties against 
Mexican drug traffickers. How seriously are you considering freezing 
U.S. assets and blocking traffickers' access to their bank accounts? And 
have you made a decision?
    The President. Well, we work on that all the time. And if we can 
identify people whose assets--who are narcotraffickers and whose assets 
we can legally freeze, we would do that without hesitation. We have--I'm 
very encouraged that we have increased our capacity to identify, for 
example, Colombian companies that are essentially fronts for drug

[[Page 638]]

money and are able to freeze their assets and limit their activities in 
the United States. So we would do that for companies from anywhere, and 
we're working on it all that time.

Mexico-U.S. Trade

    Gary Martin. Mr. President, this is Gary Martin with the San Antonio 
Express News.
    The President. Hi, Gary.
    Mr. Martin. Hi. Your administration has been criticized in Texas, by 
Texas officials, for banning organized labor and delaying the 
implementation of NAFTA accords that would allow Mexican and U.S. 
truckers to haul cargo into border States. What's being done to resolve 
that issue? And will we see an announcement lifting the ban made in 
Mexico City?
    The President. Well, we're working hard on that. But let me just 
say, we think there are some legitimate questions which

we raised. And we believe that we're committed and duty bound to allow 
Mexican motor carriers and drivers to operate in the United States if they 
are safe. And we're trying to identify steps that we can agree upon between 
the United States and Mexico to jointly take to benefit the motor carriers 
and the customers and enhance public safety and security at the same time.

    Our trade--U.S.-Mexico trade came to $130 billion in 1996. If you 
have a relationship this broad, there is going to be some areas of 
disagreement, just like we have continuing areas of disagreement with 
our neighbor to the north, Canada. But that represents a very small 
portion of our bilateral commerce. And we have to try to resolve it.
    We've had a couple of other disagreements. We're trying to work 
through these things. But they're going to--we knew from the beginning 
that there would be some areas of disagreement, that no comprehensive 
agreement like this is perfect. But I think it's clearly been best for 
both Mexico and the United States.

Certification Process and Antidrug Efforts

    Ms. Shogren. Mr. President, this is Elizabeth Shogren again. Given 
that the certification process, as it stands now, has given you and the 
Congress and the Mexican people so much trouble each time it comes up--
it's a huge hassle--do you have any plans to change that process? And 
will you speak about these plans with President Zedillo or others in 
Mexico?
    The President. Well, I don't expect that we will discuss that since 
that decision is behind us now, assuming we continue our cooperation 
here. But I believe that the question of whether this whole 
certification system is the best way of dealing with the fight against 
drugs and securing cooperation is a legitimate question. There's a lot 
of debate about it in the Congress now. Congressman Lee Hamilton made a 
public statement about it just a couple of days ago. I know that the 
Speaker and others have voiced their questions about it. And what I have 
tried to do here is to set in motion a little bipartisan discussion in 
the Congress about it, try to evaluate whether we should keep the system 
we have and, if we change it, what we put in its place, what they 
believe the best alternatives are.
    It's the sort of thing that it's easy to demagog if you seek to 
change it, but if it's not working, we at least ought to--or if there's 
serious reason to doubt whether it's the most effective way to fight 
drugs, then we ought to have an honest evaluation of it. I know General 
McCaffrey has some questions about it. So what I've asked our people to 
do is to try to get knowledgeable people in the Congress together on 
both sides and really take a hard look at this and make a recommendation 
to us and see if we can't make a bipartisan decision here and move 
forward with that.
    You don't want to do something which appears on the surface to be 
tough but actually undermines the ultimate objective.

The ultimate objective is to reduce the volume of drugs coming into the 
United States.

    Ms. Shogren. Right.
    The President. So, yes, we're looking at it.

Mexico-U.S. Relations

    Ms. Lewis. Mr. President, U.S.-Mexico relations are always delicate, 
but you're traveling there at a particularly sensitive time because of 
drugs and immigration and the concern about it on both sides. Will you 
be able

[[Page 639]]

to address that with both the people of Mexico and those in the United 
States having their concerns eased? And also, do you feel the trust has 
been recovered that was lost since the decertification debate and the 
arrest of Mexico's drug czar?
    The President. Well, first of all, I think we ought to see this in 
the larger context. I mean, if you compare our relationship with Mexico 
today, for example, with several years ago, there's no question that 
we're stronger today, that when NAFTA was passed it brought us closer 
together commercially, that we were growing closer together anyway, that 
the fact that we came to Mexico's aid when the economy was teetering and 
threatening to destabilize the economies of many other Latin American 
countries, and that, in turn, they paid their loan back to us ahead of 
schedule and with $500 million profit in interest. I think those things 
ought to be seen as enormous positives, bespeaking a new partnership. 
They were also--Mexico is a very active part of the Summit of the 
Americas, and we know that a lot of our common future is tied up with 
Mexico.
    Secondly, with regard to immigration, keep in mind that the United 
States is now the fifth largest Hispanic nation in the world, with 22 
million legal residents. And obviously, they're from many, many 
different countries, but the largest source is Mexico.
    So I think that we have a positive trend here toward economic reform 
in Mexico, toward political reform with a third of Mexico's people 
living, at the State and local level, under opposition party leaders to 
the governing party, freely elected in free elections. And now I think 
there's a serious effort being made to deal with the drug issues.
    So the framework, I think, is quite positive, especially if you look 
to the years ahead. Now, what we have to do is just to continue to work 
on our economic relationship, continue to work on the narcotrafficking. 
And what I think for our part in the United States we have to do is to 
make--on the immigration issue, I think it is absolutely imperative that 
the provisions that were tacked onto the welfare bill--they're not part 
of the welfare reform bill, they were tacked onto the welfare reform 
bill--hostile to legal immigrants already living in this country--be 
changed.
    And I think it's important for us to be sensitive in the way that we 
implement the new law dealing with illegal immigration. But after all, 
what that law requires us to do, it seems to me, is eminently sensible. 
It gives us the tools to strengthen border control, to toughen worksite 
enforcement, and to increase the removal of criminal aliens and others 
who are deportable and come in contact with the Government in some way.
    I think that this is not an anti-immigrant country. We let in 
960,000 immigrants legally last year. But we do have to do our very best 
to see that any immigrant who comes into this country, comes in legally. 
And if there are no consequences to coming in illegally, it will be 
impossible to do that.
    So we have to do this in a humane and decent way. We have to 
continue to show that we're a nation of laws. We have to respect human 
rights and not have any kind of discriminatory treatment or massive 
deportations. But this new law will give us tools we need to try to 
increase the integrity of our immigration system so that we can continue 
to maintain support for legal immigration but be more effective in 
deterring illegal immigration.

Murderer of DEA Agent

    Mr. Martin. Mr. President, what do you plan to say to President 
Zedillo about the Mexican judicial system's decision to vacate a 
killer's conviction for the slaying of DEA agent Enrique Camarena, which 
many Americans believe smacks of official corruption itself?
    The President. Well, it's my understanding that he's seeking to use 
a procedure that's similar to our habeas corpus procedure to appeal the 
conviction. And furthermore, it's my understanding that even if he were 
to win his appeal, he'll still be subject to 35 more years in jail in 
Mexico.
    In any case, we have a standing immediate-arrest request in Mexico 
for the purpose of extraditing him to the United States as soon as he's 
released from confinement in Mexico for whatever reasons. So, if he's 
going to serve 35 more years in jail, that's one thing. If for some 
reason we're wrong about our understanding of the facts and a court 
would release him, we would expect

[[Page 640]]

his immediate extradition to the United States so that he could be 
prosecuted here.
    Deputy Press Secretary Mary Ellen Glynn. OK, thanks everyone.
    Mr. Martin. Thank you.
    Ms. Shogren. Thank you, Mr. President.
    Ms. Lewis. Thank you.
    The President. Goodbye. Thank you.

Note: The interview began at 11:22 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, the President referred to President Ernesto 
Zedillo of Mexico. This item was not received in time for publication in 
the appropriate issue.