Trump defends immigration deal with Mexico

WASHINGTON» President Donald Trump and his acting Homeland Security secretary on Sunday defended their new agreement with the Mexican government to curb migration at the southern border, striking back at Democratic critics — including accusations that at least some parts of the deal predated Trump’s recent tariff threats.

With arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border soaring and Trump lashing out — at Democrats, foreign governments and U.S. laws — Homeland Security officials are under enormous pressure to halt the migration boom. The Trump administration’s efforts to deter migration have not worked, either being shot down in the courts or failing to get through Congress. And Mexican officials brushed off some of the president’s earlier demands.

Whether the deal will greatly reduce the number of migrants entering the United States remains to be seen. But it nonetheless represents a serious effort by Mexico to do more on an issue central to Trump’s reelection campaign after he threatened to impose a 5 percent across-the-board tariff on one of the United States’ top trading partners.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan credited Trump’s tariff threats with producing a breakthrough.

“The president put a charge in this whole dialogue with Mexico with the tariff threat, brought them to the table,” McAleenan said in a “Fox News Sunday”

interview, noting that Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard “arrived within hours” to begin talks.

Mexico announced it would implement “strong measures” to slow the flow of migrants across its territory toward the southern U.S. border, including the deployment of thousands of Mexican national guard troops. It also agreed to expand a program allowing Central American migrants to wait in Mexico while they await the adjudication of their asylum claims.

“People can disagree with the tactics,” McAleenan added. “Mexico came to the table with real proposals. We have an agreement that, if they implement, will be effective.”

In a series of morning tweets, Trump said that Mexico “was not being cooperative on the Border” before the deal reached Friday. Now, he said, “I have full confidence, especially after speaking to their President yesterday, that they will be very cooperative and want to get the job properly done.”

He also said he could move to re-impose tariffs if Mexico doesn’t follow through on its promises. Some aspects of the deal, he added, remain to be announced — “one in particular,” he said, “will be announced at the appropriate time.”

The president’s tweet seemed to hint at a possible component of the deal that would transform asylum rules across the region and make applicants seek refuge in the first country they reach. Such an accord would allow the United States to deport most asylum seekers from Guatemala to Mexico, and those from Honduras and El Salvador would be flown to Guatemala.

Homeland Security officials think such an arrangement would lead to a dramatic drop in migrants arriving each month at the U.S. border. Those migrants are generally released from custody if they have a child with them.

On Sunday, two Democratic presidential candidates said Trump had exaggerated what his tariff threats against Mexico had accomplished. They echoed a New York Times report alleging that the Mexican government had already agreed to several terms of the deal before Trump publicly floated the prospect of tariffs.

“These are agreements that Mexico had already made, in some cases months ago,” former congressman Beto O’Rourke said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” “They might have accelerated the timetable, but by and large the president achieved nothing except to jeopardize the most important trading relationship that the United States of America has.”

During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also said Trump had repackaged earlier agreements with Mexico to declare success in the trade standoff.

“I think what the world is tired of, and what I am tired of, is a president who consistently goes to war, verbal war, with our allies,” said Sanders, adding that Trump should focus on achieving comprehensive immigration reform. “We need a decent relationship with Mexico. They are our allies, as is the case with Canada. We should not be confronting them every other day.”

Trump, in his tweets, lashed out at The New York Times for suggesting the deal was not entirely new and also pointed out that tariffs could be back on the table if the Mexican government does not honor its end of the deal.

Republican lawmakers appeared relieved in talkshow appearances Sunday.

Sen. Ron Johnson, RWis., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, had voiced anxiety about the tariffs before the deal was reached. On Sunday, he had nothing but praise for Trump.

“Republicans understand that tariffs are attacks on American consumers, and we don’t want to see them in place long-term, nor do I believe President Trump does, either,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “He’s using tariffs as leverage in trade negotiations, and I think he used them as leverage in this situation brilliantly, quite honestly.”