Bush to set Mexican border crackdown

U.S. President George Bush's started the week Monday with talks and plans to clamp down on illegal immigration at the Mexican border.

Bush was scheduled to outline his immigration reforms at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., and then meet with officials Tuesday in El Paso, Texas.

He will be joined in Tucson by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who has begun to pour money, manpower and technology into beefing up security on the U.S.-Mexico border.

In an interview with Fox News, Chertoff said that many Mexicans who have already entered the U.S. illegally will never be deported.

"We've got, according to some estimates, 10 (million) to 11 million illegals already in this country working. And the cost of identifying all of those people and sending them back would be stupendous. It would be billions and billions of dollars."

Bush is expected to renew his call for a program to allow Mexicans who have entered the United States illegally to remain for up to six years, UPI reports.

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