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US-MEXICO-POLITICS-TRADE-IMMIGRATION
Mexico scrambles to slow migrants as Trump tariffs loom
WASHINGTON, June 7, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Mexico scrambled Thursday to slow
the flow of Central American migrants to the United States as talks continued
in Washington to head off President Donald Trump’s threat of potentially
catastrophic tariffs on Mexican goods.
Mexico City was deploying 6,000 National Guard troops to its southern
border with Guatemala, blocked hundreds of migrants in a new caravan and
froze the bank accounts of suspected human traffickers in hopes of appeasing
Washington’s demands.
But in the US capital, negotiators holding a second day of talks were
still trying to find agreement on issues including asylum application
procedures and financial aid to the Central American countries that are the
source of most of the migrants.
“We have been working this afternoon, we still do not have an agreement,”
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said as talks wrapped for the day.
“Tomorrow we have another session in the morning and we will continue
forward.”
With migrant apprehensions at the border with Mexico soaring to 144,000 in
May, the highest number in 13 years, the Trump administration has threatened
to hit all imports from Mexico with a five percent tariff starting Monday, a
move that could savage the export-dependent Mexican economy.
Trump made the threat last week, saying that the tariffs would rise by
five percentage points each month to a high of 25 percent if the southern US
neighbor fails to halt the northward flow of migrants.
“They have to step up to the plate, and perhaps they will,” Trump told
reporters in France where he was attending D-Day commemorations.
“We’ve told Mexico the tariffs go on, and I mean it too.”
“Looks like we’re moving toward the path of tariffs,” White House
communications chief Mercedes Schlapp said on Fox News.
“What we’ve seen so far, the Mexicans what they are proposing is simply
not enough.” – No deal yet –
Ebrard declined to comment on whether the talks at the State Department
revisited the so-called “safe third-country” option proposed by the United
States, which aims at having Central American migrants fleeing chronic
poverty and violence apply for asylum from Mexico rather than in the United
States.
Earlier in the week Ebrard rejected the idea, but the White House declared
it one of its principal demands.
The Washington Post reported that a potential deal to avoid the tariffs
would allow the United States to deport asylum seekers from Honduras and El
Salvador to Guatemala, which they pass through to get to Mexico and then the
United States.
Ebrard’s spokesman Robert Velasco Alvarez said Thursday that there was no
deal as the two sides were far apart, but that talks continue.
“The US position is focused on migrant control measures, ours is on
development,” he said, referring to Mexico’s support of a broader effort to
support the economies of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
At Mexico’s southern border Thursday, there were visible efforts to slow
the migrants and hinder their supporters.
In the southern state of Chiapas, AFP journalists reported an increased
police and military presence on roads typically used by migrants heading
north. Ebrard confirmed that 6,000 National Guardsmen would be deployed to
the border.
Mexico City froze the bank accounts of 26 suspected human traffickers
allegedly responsible for organizing US-bound migrant caravans.
Two activists from People Without Borders (Pueblo Sin Fronteras), which
has helped organize migrant caravans, were arrested on allegations of
offering migrants money to enter Mexico illegally.
Mexican authorities also blocked 420 migrants in a new caravan, although
the group was initially about 1,200-strong, with many suspected of running
away before immigration officials stepped in.
– Asylum not the problem –
Meanwhile Carla Provost, the head of the US Border Patrol, downplayed the
issue of asylum, saying migrants simply understand that, due to US laws, if
they arrive with children, they will likely be released into the United
States.
She noted that since October, 230,000 children without legal travel
documents have crossed the border into the United States, most with families
but also tens of thousands unaccompanied by adults.
“The issue is they don’t even have to claim asylum, they know that,”
Border Patrol chief Carla Provost told CNN.
“They are telling us they are told by smugglers, they are hearing
announcements in their own country, that if they come right now and bring a
child, they will be released,” she said.
“That is a true statement, because we cannot hold them longer than 20 days
if they have a child.”
BSS/AFP/RY/08:01 hrs