- Joined
- Mar 7, 2018
- Messages
- 62,453
- Reaction score
- 19,276
- Location
- Lower Mainland of BC
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Centrist
From The Sydney Morning Herald
Washington: President Donald Trump has claimed for two days that he secured a secret immigration deal with Mexico - beyond the one announced on Friday. But the White House has declined to disclose any details, and Mexico has denied that a deal was reached. Confronted with understandable scepticism, Trump produced a folded piece of paper from his breast pocket on Tuesday.
And a particularly good photographer, The Washington Post's Jabin Botsford, snapped an image that reveals some of the document's contents. That image allows us to glean some clues.
The following is what I can make out of the text. Where I'm inferring a word or letters, I'll put it in parentheses:
(UNREADABLE) other party. The parties further intend (UNREADABLE) an agreem(ent) (UNREADABLE) to burden-sharing in relation to the processing of refuge(es) (UNREADABLE).
Mexico also commits to immediate(ly) (UNREADABLE) domestic laws and regulations with a view to identifying any changes that (UNREADABLE) to bring into force and implement such an agreement.
If the United States determines, at its discretion and after consultation with Mexico, after 45 calendar days from the date of the issuance of the Join Declaration, that the measures adopted by the Government of Mexico pursuant to the Joint Declaration have not sufficiently achieved results in addressing the flow of migrants to the southern border of the United States, the Government of Mexico will take all necessary steps under the domestic law to bring the agreement into force with a view to ensuring that the agreement will enter into force within 45 days.
Signed on this 7th of June, 2019 in Washington, D.C. by:
(SIGNATURE 1) (SIGNATURE 2)
COMMENT:-
To me, Mr. Trump's "announcement" sounds a tiny bit reminiscent of Sen. McCarthy's "I hold in my hand a piece of paper that contains the names of __[fill in today's number]__ of people who belong to the __[fill in today's target]__ who are actually members of the Communist Party.".
However, I am prepared to concede that, on the basis of what we know so far, Mr. Trump's outstandingly superlative negotiating skills have scored a smashing diplomatic victory because he has forced the Mexicans to agree that they will take a look at their own laws to see which of them they want to change (without violating Mexico's domestic laws and/or treaty obligations) in return for which he only gave the Mexicans what they wanted.
PS - A Safe First Country Agreement, does NOT provide that asylum seekers must remain outside the US while the US government processes their applications. What a SFCA does is allow the second country to automatically reject an application for asylum if the applicant has previously made one in the country that they want to leave.
PPS - I can envision the Mexican government reaching an agreement with the US government whereby people wishing to leave Mexico and make an asylum application in the US would remain SHELTERED, FED, and CARED FOR (which would include medical, educational, and recreational services) in Mexico AT THE EXPENSE OF the American government. That agreement would (bearing in mind Mr. Trump's track record for compliance with contractual obligations) likely have provisions for immediate termination if the bills were not paid in full and on time. I can also envision that such provisions would likely be "secret".
Photograph reveals truth behind Trump's so-called Mexican 'deal'
Washington: President Donald Trump has claimed for two days that he secured a secret immigration deal with Mexico - beyond the one announced on Friday. But the White House has declined to disclose any details, and Mexico has denied that a deal was reached. Confronted with understandable scepticism, Trump produced a folded piece of paper from his breast pocket on Tuesday.
And a particularly good photographer, The Washington Post's Jabin Botsford, snapped an image that reveals some of the document's contents. That image allows us to glean some clues.
The following is what I can make out of the text. Where I'm inferring a word or letters, I'll put it in parentheses:
(UNREADABLE) other party. The parties further intend (UNREADABLE) an agreem(ent) (UNREADABLE) to burden-sharing in relation to the processing of refuge(es) (UNREADABLE).
Mexico also commits to immediate(ly) (UNREADABLE) domestic laws and regulations with a view to identifying any changes that (UNREADABLE) to bring into force and implement such an agreement.
If the United States determines, at its discretion and after consultation with Mexico, after 45 calendar days from the date of the issuance of the Join Declaration, that the measures adopted by the Government of Mexico pursuant to the Joint Declaration have not sufficiently achieved results in addressing the flow of migrants to the southern border of the United States, the Government of Mexico will take all necessary steps under the domestic law to bring the agreement into force with a view to ensuring that the agreement will enter into force within 45 days.
Signed on this 7th of June, 2019 in Washington, D.C. by:
(SIGNATURE 1) (SIGNATURE 2)
COMMENT:-
To me, Mr. Trump's "announcement" sounds a tiny bit reminiscent of Sen. McCarthy's "I hold in my hand a piece of paper that contains the names of __[fill in today's number]__ of people who belong to the __[fill in today's target]__ who are actually members of the Communist Party.".
However, I am prepared to concede that, on the basis of what we know so far, Mr. Trump's outstandingly superlative negotiating skills have scored a smashing diplomatic victory because he has forced the Mexicans to agree that they will take a look at their own laws to see which of them they want to change (without violating Mexico's domestic laws and/or treaty obligations) in return for which he only gave the Mexicans what they wanted.
PS - A Safe First Country Agreement, does NOT provide that asylum seekers must remain outside the US while the US government processes their applications. What a SFCA does is allow the second country to automatically reject an application for asylum if the applicant has previously made one in the country that they want to leave.
PPS - I can envision the Mexican government reaching an agreement with the US government whereby people wishing to leave Mexico and make an asylum application in the US would remain SHELTERED, FED, and CARED FOR (which would include medical, educational, and recreational services) in Mexico AT THE EXPENSE OF the American government. That agreement would (bearing in mind Mr. Trump's track record for compliance with contractual obligations) likely have provisions for immediate termination if the bills were not paid in full and on time. I can also envision that such provisions would likely be "secret".
