Trump team’s day: Border battling, bathroom bounce
The Trump administration rolled back federal rules over school bathroom use for transgender students last night, erasing the Obama-era directive and throwing the issue back on the states.
“This is an issue best solved at the state and local level,” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said. “Schools, communities and families can find — and in many cases have found — solutions that protect all students.”
In a letter to the nation’s schools, the Justice and Education departments said the earlier guidance “has given rise to significant litigation regarding school restrooms and locker rooms.”
The agencies withdrew the guidance to “in order to further and more completely consider the legal issues involved.”
The move came on a day when Mexico promised to fight President Trump’s illegal immigration plan — including efforts to force it to take back everyone who crosses the southern border regardless of where they originally came from — as meetings between the two countries were set to continue into a second day today.
“I want to say clearly and emphatically that the government of Mexico and the Mexican people do not have to accept provisions that one government unilaterally wants to impose on the other,” said Mexico Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, according to Reuters. “We will not accept it, because there’s no reason why we should, and because it is not in the interests of Mexico.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly arrived in Mexico yesterday for a two-day visit that includes meetings with President Enrique Pena Nieto and top ministers on topics including border security, trade and law enforcement cooperation.
It could get uncomfortable.
The Trump administration on Tuesday announced plans to expand the number of illegal immigrants living in the United States who are subject to deportation. They also call for sending many who cross the border illegally back to Mexico, even if they originated from outside the country, including Central America.
That proposal, which came just hours before the arrival of the American envoy, called to mind Trump’s first week in the White House when he insisted Mexico would pay for the proposed wall across the southern border. After Pena Nieto scoffed that Mexico would never fund such an effort, the two leaders canceled their scheduled meeting.
The Trump administration has also suggested possibly imposing a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports to pay for the wall. The two countries, along with Canada, are also planning to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer described U.S.-Mexico relations as “phenomenal right now.”
The Trump administration has denied the new immigration policies amount to mass deportations, but Kelly, speaking in Guatemala yesterday, said they would now happen at a faster pace, according to Reuters.