Mexican President Felipe Calderón will spend Tuesday in Chicago as part of a long-awaited U.S. tour this week. The visit has stirred up controversy in Chicago about whether Calderón’s administration is doing enough for his countrymen in the United States. We report from our West Side bureau.

Both Calderón’s supporters and detractors agree on at least one thing: They want the United States to legalize its estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.

But as the Mexican president makes his way to Chicago, his country’s politics are playing out here. Many Chicagoans who opposed Calderón’s 2006 election now say he isn’t pushing hard enough for U.S. immigration reform. Carlos Arango heads Casa Aztlán, a community center in the Pilsen neighborhood.

ARANGO: Han guardado un estricto silencio frente a esos abusos…

Arango says Calderón and his consul general in Chicago have maintained a strict silence as U.S. authorities have carried out mass deportations. Arango and other members of Mexico’s left-of-center Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) are planning to greet the president tomorrow with a street protest.

On the other side are members of the president’s National Action Party (PAN). The consulate has invited many of them to a closed-door session with Calderón. Salvador Pedroza, the party’s Illinois president, chairs the Little Village Chamber of Commerce.

PEDROZA: Solamente la protesta, pues, no la puedes ver en una mesa…

Pedroza says protesting will only disrupt what could be a constructive meeting. He concedes the Chicago consulate could be doing better, but says Mexicans here should give President Calderón a warm welcome.