US legislators, on the eve of Mr Bush's first trip to Mexico as US president, introduced a Bill yesterday to waive that country's annual certification as a fully co-operating partner in the fight against the drug trade.
"Passing this legislation would get President Bush's trip to Mexico off on the right foot and avert a pointless confrontation with that nation's new leader," Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said in a statement.
"I have certainly discussed this with Mr Bush . . . and I think he has very high on his agenda discussing how we can come together and produce results that will benefit both our countries," she added to reporters.
Under current law, the US President must certify by March 1st of each year that drug-producing and drug-transit countries are co-operating fully with Washington in the war on drugs.
If a country is decertified, it may be subject to US sanctions, although the US President has the option of issuing a waiver.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who met Mexico's President Vicente Fox after his December 1st, 2000, inauguration, said she was impressed with his determination to wipe out the drug trade.
"I was very impressed with President Fox's determination to move ahead in an orderly way to include Mexico actively with law enforcement in this area," said Ms Feinstein, who worked with a number of lawmakers on the bipartisan waiver legislation.
The Bill eliminates for a year the requirement that the US President "grade" Mexico's performance - but it keeps in place the various assessments by the State Department, Justice Department and Office of National Drug Policy.
The legislation also requires that Mr Bush submit to Congress by June 30th a comprehensive proposal for joint US-Mexico counter-narcotics efforts.
"With this moratorium we hope that the President will come forward with President Fox and produce a proposal that will produce results," Senator Hutchison said.
Meanwhile, the US's get tough policy to stop illegal immigration from Mexico has succeeded only in causing more immigrants to die along the border, according to a university study released yesterday.
Increased enforcement has made the 3,360 km US-Mexico border more dangerous but has done little to stop the flow of people, said researchers at the University of Houston Center for Immigration Research.
"The US border policy is not working. The white crosses and unidentified border graves lining the landscape of the US-Mexico border are evidence of a failed policy," said sociologist Ms Jacqueline Hagan, the centre's co-director.
She said US policy has centred on physically closing the border with fences and law enforcement agents, but the only real solution may be to "open up more legal channels for immigrants," most of whom come seeking better jobs.
Since 1993, the number of US border patrol agents in the south-west has grown from 3,389 to more than 8,000, with a government goal to reach 10,000 this year, Ms Hagan said.
Statistics compiled by the US Immigration and Naturalisation Service showed that immigrant deaths on the US side of the border rose from 231 in 1999 to 369 last year, the center said.
Deaths are increasing, said research center co-director Mr Nestor Rodriguez, because stronger enforcement efforts force immigrants into harsher, more isolated terrain.