George Bush's immigration policy is a big piñata hanging across the border between Mexico and the United States. Some immigrants believe it's shaped like a star to guide them across the Rio Grande to work in the promised land, others think it resembles a devil, offering the tantalizing prospect of legal jobs in the US, only to discover that this is a mirage.

Many are thankful that the piñata is available to liven up bilateral relations and can't wait to give it a good whack. But if Mexico's President Vicente Fox is to benefit from his turn hitting the piñata, he will need to take off the blindfold he wears in public where President Bush is concerned.

Fox has every right to celebrate the recent initiative announced by President Bush to assist some currently illegal immigrants to the US come out of the shadow economy, and he should congratulate himself for pressing Bush to make this effort. It was his constant prodding that helped design and fill the piñata.

But Fox needs to move quickly from self-congratulation to action, because Mexico needs a more fulfilling relationship with America than the scanty prizes that are now dropping from Bush's piñata. He will have time to do so, because no new proposal is likely to be launched in a US presidential election year.

To start, Fox must listen more carefully than he has to the people he governs. For some immigrants, the Bush proposal offers the possibility of stepping out of the shadows into legal jobs, for others it represents the possibility of legalization today but deportation from the US tomorrow.

On one side, there is the carrot of living and earning like a US resident. On the other, there's the stick of probably never becoming a citizen. While many immigrants would welcome the idea of returning to Mexico after temporary employment in the US, many others would prefer to immigrate permanently to the US.

In fact, a majority of Mexican immigrants already in the US don't know exactly how to respond to Bush's proposal, and Vicente Fox will have to listen to them, too, if he wants to speak in their name. There are those who welcome what Bush has brought to the bilateral party because it will allow them to live without fear. For them, Bush's proposal is a big step forward.

Others, however, have reacted skeptically, and for good reason. They think that the piñata is a distraction from the goal of earned legalization. They don't want a job that will solve their problems for three years, but rather a precise path to residency in the US that will solve their problems forever. For those who have worked in the US for 10 or 15 years, the Bush piñata is a mere decoration. They don't want a legal status that will vanish in three years.

Vicente Fox will have to acknowledge these differences and work with them. Immigrants themselves are divided and Vicente Fox will have to understand why. Therefore, he should not embrace the Bush proposal as is.

Three years ago, Fox wanted the "whole enchilada": a temporary workers accord, more Green Cards to allow Mexicans to work in the US, legalization of immigrants already in the US, development funds for Mexican communities that send immigrants to the US, and a bilateral approach to managing the problem. Without these five components, any immigration proposal will not cut back on the number of deaths among those seeking to cross the border, or the existence of an abused underclass, or the persistence of temporary and legal employment that becomes permanent and illegal employment.

Vicente Fox probably feels tempted to hit the piñata as it hangs there and go back home with whatever he can get. But he has long-term responsibilities - both to Mexicans in Mexico and to Mexicans in the US - that go beyond obtaining a short-term political victory. Bush's proposal is full of holes, and Fox should figure out how to fill them. Since Bush's proposal doesn't incorporate Mexico's interests, Fox should spell them out. If Bush's piñata can't spell out all the details, Fox should define them in Mexican and bilateral terms.

The Italian word "pignatta" means "fragile pot." Bush's immigration piñata is indeed a fragile one. It is swaying in fierce electoral winds, it was made exclusively in the USA without Mexican help, and it doesn't contain enough candy. Vicente Fox has said that he wants more, and he should keep his word. He needs to remember that in Mexico, piñatas are symbols of hope.