The Guatemalan President Oscar Berger said on Monday that if the United States revises its immigration policy, its ties with Guatemala would be even closer.

He made the remarks in his welcome speech for visiting U.S. President George W. Bush at La Paz Patio inside Guatemala's National Palace of Culture.

As 2 percent of Guatemala's citizens live in the United States, Guatemala considers such a reform as essential, said Berger, noting that the two countries' differences on the issue should be resolved constructively.

Berger obviously referred to the arrest of some 300 undocumented Guatemalan workers, mostly women, by U.S. immigration agents last week, which has angered a lot of Guatemalans.

The president said that he would make good use of his meeting with Bush to cover issues such as the fight against poverty, respect for human rights, fight against organized crimes and Central American economic integration.

Bush, for his part, said the two countries share identical ideals such as the free enterprise path to prosperity and the spread of social justice, and the two sides are working together to boost access to education, medical services and legal jobs for Guatemalans in the United States.

During the welcoming ceremony, hundreds of demonstrators gathered just several streets away from the palace to protest Bush's visit, shouting "Bush Out" and "Murderer."

Guatemala is the penultimate stop of Bush's five-nation Latin American tour, his first foreign trip of the year and the longest ever to the region. Before Guatemala he was also in Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia. He will wrap up his tour in Mexico.

Source: Xinhua