DON'T ASK MEXICO'S FOX ABOUT AGENDA.

Byline: JENNIFER SOLIS Local view

MEXICAN President Vicente Fox will make the final stop of his victory lap through the western United States today in Los Angeles. He's expected to meet with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and hopes to encourage Congress to approve amnesty for more than a tenth of Mexico's citizens now residing north of its frontier.

Fox's tour also attempts to shore up credibility for his embattled National Action Party, which is in a tight race with the leftist Democratic Revolution Party for the July 2 Mexican presidential election, in which Fox cannot run as an incumbent. Migration is the biggest, unspoken issue of the campaign. More than 40,000 Mexicans living in the U.S. are registered to vote in Mexico.

During Fox's almost six years in office, his government has encouraged millions of its poorest citizens to cross its northern border. It has printed handbooks of helpful hints for avoiding La Migra, and military officials have helped to expedite the coyotes in transporting their human cargo. The $20 billion-a-year that Mexicans living in America send back to Mexico makes immigration the most important segment of the country's economy.

Fox says the purpose of his visit is to encourage investment and to show his support for the defense of human rights. Reporters who have tried to question him on this tour are told that there will be no comments beyond the scripted speeches he will give to very selected audiences in Utah, Washington and California. Reporters want to know why Fox's country is pushing hard for legalizing immigrants here in the U.S., while maintaining one of the most restrictive immigration policies in the world. Don't ask!

The last thing that Fox wants to discuss is the failure of his ``reform'' party to clean up the mess in his own backyard, which is a primary cause of the mass exodus. Corruption is institutionalized in Mexican society, especially at the local level.

Public servants are expected to supplement their low wages with whatever mordida (the bite) they can extract from the citizens for government services, including health and police protection.

Meanwhile, the taxpayers of California have had to pay out more than $12 billion a year to provide social services, including education, for those who have escaped from Mexico's dysfunctional system.

No wonder some haven't given Fox the warm reception he might have hoped for. When he started his tour in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, his audience had to be requested to stand up and applaud.

Like most politicians, Fox's opinions are largely shaped by what he reads and sees in the mainstream American media. He has been encouraged by the mass rallies and marches of the past few weeks, as well as the emotional appeals for amnesty from leading lawmakers. But underlying this rosy view is a deep resentment by the great majority of Americans, who would rather talk about high fences, National Guard presence on the border and sanctions for employers who hire illegal immigrants.

The best suggestion for Senor Presidente, when he leaves Los Angeles today, is to fly over Mexico to its southern border and try to cross as an unrecognized, undocumented immigrant. Perhaps he will wake up to the reality of sovereignty, which is the trend, not only here in America, but in the rest of the industrialized world.