Bogota - US presidential candidate John McCain said Thursday in Mexico that he wants to support the introduction of temporary work visas for migrant workers from Latin America in the US.

At the same time the border between the US and Mexico needs to be made more secure, the Republican senator said during a visit to Mexico.

McCain said he believes the US, Mexico and the other countries in the hemisphere need a program for migratory labor that has time constraints that would be controlled with biometric systems.

Each year several hundred thousand Mexicans and other Central Americans without papers try to get into the US looking for work. As a result the US government has begun to fence the 3,200-kilometre- long border. McCain said his first task as president would be to secure the border between the US and Mexico. (dpa)