Mexican President Felipe Calderon blasted the US in his first annual state-of-the-nation address for immigration policies that have divided families and slowed the amount of money sent home by Mexicans living north of the border.
The criticism earned Calderon a standing ovation on Sunday during the speech, which was delayed a day and moved to the National Palace to avoid a confrontation with opposition lawmakers.
"We strongly protest the unilateral measures taken by the US Congress and government that have only persecuted and exacerbated the mistreatment of Mexican undocumented workers," he said. "The insensitivity toward those who support the US economy and society has only served as an impetus to reinforce the battle ... for their rights."
He also reached out to the millions of Mexicans living in the US, many illegally, saying: "Mexico does not end at its borders. Where there is a Mexican, there is Mexico."
Calderon called on the country to create a foreign policy that ensured there was "more Mexico in the world, and more of the world in Mexico." And he said the US and Mexico need to work together to develop "the region's enormous potential."
"We need to create a strong, winning Mexico that is sure of itself," he said. "Mexico's challenge is being able to strengthen its international position."
Since taking office in December, Calderon has maintained strong ties with the US, but he also has not shied away from criticizing his powerful neighbor.
He has often denounced US immigration policy, including stepped up workplace raids and deportations that have divided many families, sometimes forcing US-born children to build new lives in Mexico.
In one of the most high-profile cases, illegal immigrant Elvira Arellano was deported recently to Mexico after spending a year in a Chicago church to avoid being sent home. Her eight-year-old son Saul, who is a US citizen, flew to Mexico on Friday to be reunited with his mother and said he plans to stay indefinitely, helping her fight to return to the US.
Calderon addressed the nation from the National Palace after opposition legislators still angry over his narrow electoral victory last year vowed to prevent him from delivering the speech in Congress, as Mexican tradition dictates.
Following intense negotiations between both sides, Calderon turned in his report at Congress' podium on Saturday evening, although the leftist lawmaker presiding over the session, Ruth Zavaleta, refused to receive the thick stack of papers.
Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal declared Calderon the winner of the presidential race nearly a year ago, rejecting leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's claims that Calderon's narrow victory was fraudulent.
Calderon's predecessor, Vicente Fox, was also blocked last year from making his state-of-the-nation address in Congress after leftist lawmakers stormed the stage and refused to give him passage. The lawmakers claimed Fox unfairly aided Calderon's win, which Fox denied. Both are members of the conservative National Action Party.
Calderon opened his speech on Sunday by saying he wanted to change the state-of-the-nation address to allow for more communication between the president's office and Congress. But he left open whether next year's speech would also be in the National Palace.
Lopez Obrador refused to recognize Calderon's eventual victory and declared himself leader of a parallel government. But he has largely disappeared from the public eye amid sharp divisions within his leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party.
Calderon, meanwhile, has garnered some of the highest approval ratings in Mexico's history.
He said on Sunday that Mexico has created 618,000 new jobs since January and needs to do more to close the giant gap between the rich and the poor.
He also promised not to let up in his nationwide crackdown on drug gangs who control large swaths of Mexican territory.
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