Trump inadvertently reveals details of Mexico migrant deal
Wednesday, 12 June 2019 (13:37 IST)
The US president told reporters he was happy with the progress made on controlling immigration. The finer points of a US-Mexico agreement were divulged as Trump waved a document in front of journalists.
US President Donald Trump inadvertently revealed on Tuesday that Mexico have agreed to take stronger preventative measures to stem the flow of migrants across its borders.
Trump brandished a document outside the White House and close up photographs of the text showed that the Central American country will enforce specific domestic laws if the US is not appeased by the results of its initial efforts.
Indeed, the paper appeared to confirm that Mexico would deploy 6,000 National Guardsmen on its southern border with Guatemala, as well as expanding its approach to taking back asylum-seekers as Washington processes their claims.
If, after 45 days, the US government "determines at its discretion" that the results do not meet their requirements, the document states that "Mexico will take all necessary steps under domestic law to bring the agreement into force."
Trump waved the document in response to questions as to whether an agreement had been agreed with Mexico.
The president was keen to emphasize that the two nations were in accordance.
"Mexico is doing a great job at the border, really helping us," he said. "They have been working very hard. We're doing very well together. Good relationship."
Mexico has previously withstood calls from Washington to be a safe haven for Central American asylum seekers crossing the country heading to the US.
