U. S., Mexican voices hopeful after meeting
But Trump’s tone conflicts
MEXICO CITY — Top U. S. and Mexican government officials struck a conciliatory tone Thursday after meeting inside Mexico’s foreign ministry a day after tensions again flared between the two nations over President Donald Trump’s administration’s immigration policies.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly met with Mexican Foreign Affairs Minister Luis Videgaray and Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong for about two hours — discussing immigration, counterterrorism, drug and arms trafficking, and trade between the two countries that amounts to $ 1.5 billion in daily commerce.
The U. S. officials sought to quell anger in Mexico over an executive order signed by Trump earlier this week that will dramatically expand the pool of illegal aliens deported to Mexico, and over a suggestion within the Trump administration that National Guard troops would be deployed to carry out that task.
“No, repeat, no use of military force in immigra-
tion operations. None,” Kelly said. “We’ll approach this operation systematically, in an organized way, in a result- oriented way, in an operational way and in a human- dignity way.”
Kelly said all deportations will comply with humanrights requirements and the U. S. legal system, including its multiple appeals for those facing deportation.
He said the U. S. approach will involve “close coordination” with Mexico’s government.
Yet while Kelly and Tillerson tried to alleviate Mexico’s concerns, Trump was feeding them further with tough talk about “getting really bad dudes out of this country at a rate nobody has ever seen before.”
“It’s a military operation,” Trump said Thursday while his envoys were in Mexico City.
“Because what has been allowed to come into our country, when you see gang violence that you’ve read about like never before and all of the things, much of that is people who are here illegally.”
In contrast to Trump, Tillerson and Kelly emphasized a U. S. commitment to work closely with Mexico on border security, illegal immigration and trafficking of drugs and weapons — matters Trump has made a central focus of his young presidency, much to Mexico’s dismay.
Both Tillerson and Kelly appeared to downplay any major rift between the U. S. and Mexico.
“In a relationship filled with vibrant colors, two strong, sovereign countries from time to time will have differences,” Tillerson said.
“We listened closely and carefully to each other as we respectfully and patiently raised our respective concerns.”
The Homeland Security Department didn’t immediately respond to requests to clarify why Trump’s remark about “a military operation” had conflicted with that of Kelly, who blamed the media for “misreporting.”
At the White House, spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump hadn’t been speaking literally. He said Trump used the “military operation” phrase “as an adjective” to describe the precision with which immigration enforcement was being carried out.
Kelly, whose department oversees the agencies responsible for border security and immigration, also vowed that there would be no “mass deportation” from the U. S.
But neither he nor Tillerson publicly addressed one of Mexico’s key objections: a plan to send non- Mexican deportees who arrived by the southern border back into Mexico.
“We shared our concerns about foreigners being deported to Mexico,” Chong said. Videgaray, the foreign minister, said he “told the U. S. that immigration policy can’t be unilateral.”
Videgaray added that he had expressed concerns about the rights of Mexicans living in the U. S. President Enrique Pena Nieto has vowed to use Mexico’s network of consulates and embassies in the U. S. to provide legal support to Mexican citizens fighting deportation.
Tillerson emphasized his personal history as a Texan as a bridge between the two countries and said he recognized “the existing U. S.- Mexican cooperation to curtail irregular migration.”
Much of that migration now comes from citizens of Central American nations who transit through Mexico on their way to the U. S.
Tillerson also said the U. S. would work to stop “the illegal firearms and bulk cash that is originating in the United States and flowing into Mexico. There’s no mistaking that the rule of law matters along both sides of our border.”
Tillerson and Kelly also met privately with Pena Nieto before returning to Washington.
Pena Nieto recently canceled a trip to Washington over Trump’s insistence that Mexico pay for a proposed border wall. The presidential visit has not been rescheduled.
The joint visit comes as relations between the countries are increasingly under strain over not only Trump’s immigration policies but also the still- undefined plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Videgaray noted the “public and notorious differences” between the countries and said the Mexicans had raised the “legal impossibility” of a government making “unilateral” decisions affecting another country.
The comments echoed those Videgaray voiced Wednesday, when he also raised the prospect Mexico could seek recourse at the United Nations or elsewhere for U. S. moves violating international law.
“It is an evident fact that Mexicans feel concern and irritation over what are perceived as policies that may hurt Mexicans and the national interest of Mexicans here and abroad,” Videgaray said Thursday.
The two sides said they agreed to work together on stemming a heavy flow of illegal immigration into the United States from violent areas of Central America through combination of security and economic- development initiatives.
Videgaray said both countries hope to lead a wider dialogue in the region that would add stability to Central America.
“We need to assume a regional responsibility for the development of Central America,” he said.
Information for this article was contributed by Antonio Olivo of
The Washington Post; by Josh Lederman, Mark Stevenson in Mexico City and Jonathan Lemire; and by Eric Martin and Nacha Cattan of Bloomberg News.