Washington DC— President Donald Trump said on Monday June 10th, that the US had signed another portion of an immigration deal with Mexico that would need to be ratified by Mexican legislators.
He did not provide details, but threatened tariffs if Mexico’s Congress did not approve the plan.
“We have fully signed and documented another very important part of the immigration and security deal with Mexico, one that the US has been asking about getting for many years. It will be revealed in the not too distant future and will need a vote by Mexico’s legislative body,” Trump tweeted.
“We do not anticipate a problem with the vote, but if for any reason the approval is not forthcoming tariffs will be reinstated.”
Last month, Trump threatened 5% tariffs on Mexican goods to be imposed on Monday. The duties would rise monthly until they reached 25% in October, unless Mexico stopped illegal emigration across its border with the US.
On Friday, the tariffs were called off, after the US and Mexico announced an agreement on immigration. The joint communique issued by the two countries provided few details.
Critics have said there have been no new major commitments to slow the migration of Central Americans to the US.
A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The agreement would expedite a programme known as the Migration Protection Protocols, which sends people seeking asylum in the US to wait in Mexico as their cases are processed.
That programme, announced in December, would be expanded across the entire US-Mexico border in terms of the agreement, said the state department.
The deal would also send the Mexican National Guard police force to its own southern border, where many Central Americans enter Mexico.
Mexican foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard tweeted on Monday morning that he would brief Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on details of the agreement.
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