Bush wants to couple tougher border enforcement with a guest-worker program and a way to put some of the 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States on the path to citizenship.

But Mexicans are livid about the plan to build 700 miles

of border fencing, which Bush signed into law last month. They see it as a slap in the face to efforts during President Vicente Fox's near-completed six-year term to come to an agreement with Washington on immigration.

Calderon said he had expressed his concerns to Bush on the immigration issue and that the U.S. leader was "very open to all the arguments that I presented to him."

"We both understand that the only solution to many of the problems that we have is to create well-paid jobs in Mexico and for that we need even more investment," he said.

Each year, thousands of Mexicans risk their lives sneaking across the 2,000-mile (3,200-km) border looking for jobs to escape poverty.

The victory by Calderon, the conservative ruling party candidate, over leftist firebrand Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in July's election was seen as a boost for Washington in Latin America, where anti-U.S. sentiment is high in some countries.

With the Democrats capturing both houses of Congress in Tuesday's midterm election, many analysts believe there could be an opening for an overhaul of immigration policy along the lines broadly supported by Bush and the Senate but blocked in recent months by the Republican-dominated House.

Some lawmakers see the issue as a way for Bush and victorious congressional Democrats to demonstrate a new spirit of bipartisanship. But it remains to be seen whether compromise can be reached with the 2008 presidential race looming.