Redoing rules on asylum floated

Mexico pledges troops on border

Kevin McAleenan - the Customs and Border Protection commissioner at the time - meets with Guatemalan and U.S. Embassy officials in September 2018 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. McAleenan is now acting secretary of homeland security. Washington Post photo by Carolyn Van Houten.
Kevin McAleenan - the Customs and Border Protection commissioner at the time - meets with Guatemalan and U.S. Embassy officials in September 2018 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. McAleenan is now acting secretary of homeland security. Washington Post photo by Carolyn Van Houten.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. and Mexican officials on Thursday discussed the outlines of a deal that would increase Mexico's immigration enforcement efforts and give the United States more latitude to deport Central Americans seeking asylum, according to a U.S. official and a Mexican official who cautioned that the accord is not finalized and that President Donald Trump might not accept it.

Faced with Trump's threat to impose escalating tariffs on Mexican goods beginning Monday, Mexican officials have pledged to deploy up to 6,000 of its National Guard troops to the country's border region with Guatemala, a show of force they say will make immediate reductions in the number of Central Americans heading north toward the U.S. border.

The Mexican official and the U.S. official said the countries are negotiating a sweeping plan to overhaul asylum rules across the region, a move that would require Central Americans to seek refuge in the first foreign country they enter after fleeing their homeland.

Under such a plan, the United States would swiftly deport to Mexico Guatemalan asylum seekers who set foot on U.S. soil. And the United States would send Honduran and Salvadoran asylum applicants to Guatemala, whose government held talks with acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan last week. Central American migrants who express a fear of death or torture if sent back to their home countries would be interviewed by a U.S. asylum officer to determine whether the chances of such harm were more likely than not -- a higher screening standard than current procedures.

Mexico has repeatedly said it will not accept the kind of "safe third country" agreement that the U.S. has with Canada, a pact that requires asylum seekers to apply for refuge in whichever country they arrive first, as each is considered safe havens. But the Mexican official said the government is willing to make asylum changes for the sake of a coordinated regional approach.

Mexican negotiators also have made clear that they will pull their offers from the table if Trump imposes the tariffs, telling the U.S. that the economic damage would undermine Mexico's ability to afford tougher enforcement.

The Mexican and U.S. officials described the accord's framework on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the international negotiations, but they expressed optimism that the deal was attainable. Officials from both countries said they did not know whether the terms would assuage Trump and alleviate the tariff threat; Trump plans to charge a 5% tariff on Mexican goods unless the country can show that it will take steps to reduce the flow of migrants streaming to the U.S. border, with the tariff increasing to 25% over time.

Vice President Mike Pence, monitoring the talks from his travels in Pennsylvania, said the U.S. was "encouraged" by Mexico's latest proposals but that, so far, tariffs still were set to take effect on Monday.

He added that it would be "for the president to decide" whether Mexico was doing enough to head off the tariffs.

Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard spent several hours Thursday morning at the State Department, while Trump's legal counsel and other Mexican aides met at the White House Thursday afternoon.

Ebrard told reporters as he left the State Department that progress was being made and that he was likely to return after consultations at the embassy. He returned in early evening.

His spokesman, Roberto Velasco, tweeted that, "Options continue to be explored."

"The stance of the United States is focused on measures of migratory control, ours on development," he said.

White House spokesman Mercedes Schlapp said in an interview that conversations were continuing but "it looks like we're moving toward this path of tariffs because what we've seen so far is that the Mexicans, what they're proposing, is simply not enough."

Meanwhile, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday that he will hold a "unity" rally Saturday on the border in Tijuana.

He said the demonstration will be held to defend Mexico's "dignity" regarding the tariff threat.

Lopez Obrador expressed confidence that an agreement could be reached as talks continued Thursday, but did not offer any specifics beyond rejecting the use of force against migrants.

"I am calling together the people of Mexico ... for a rally to defend the dignity of Mexico, and in favor of friendship with the people of the United States," said the president, who has held a multitude of demonstrations while in public office over the past 20 years.

Lopez Obrador has said over and over that his goal is to avoid any confrontation with Trump, and he stressed Thursday that "U.S. authorities have behaved very well, because they have not cut off the dialogue."

STILL AT ODDS

While the tariff threat is aimed at spurring action in Mexico, significant differences remain about how quickly and by how much Mexico can reduce the influx through tougher enforcement measures, the U.S. official said. Last month, U.S. authorities made more than 132,000 arrests along the southern border, the highest level in 13 years.

Mexico has told the United States that the National Guard deployment -- along with promises to build more migrant detention centers and checkpoints to catch Central Americans and deter their passage -- will quickly reduce migration flows to the levels of last fall, when arrests averaged about 60,000 per month.

Trump officials have told Mexico that it is not enough, making clear that the White House will only be satisfied with a return to the numbers tallied in the months after Trump was inaugurated, when arrests fell below 20,000, the lowest level in half a century.

The National Guard forces would not have the legal authority to arrest migrants, but they would work alongside the unarmed Mexican migration agents who have often backed down when confronted by noncompliant migrants or unruly caravan groups. The Guard forces would include riot-control teams, the Mexican official said. And U.S. officials have received assurances that the additional forces would interdict the express buses smuggling groups are using to take large numbers of migrants north, adding more checkpoints along highways and rail lines.

U.S. authorities continue to push for a more forceful approach from Mexico, while Mexico is urging the United States to address the underlying structural problems in Central America -- poverty, violence and drought -- that are driving emigration.

Trump gave indications Thursday that the talks had made progress, but he told reporters that he had not made up his mind.

"Something pretty dramatic could happen," he said, referring to the talks with Mexican diplomats, which continued Thursday. "We've told Mexico the tariffs go on. And I mean it, too."

Trump also dismissed Republican senators who have threatened to block his tariff plans, saying they "have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to tariffs."

Mexico said it will deploy 13 contingents of newly formed Guard units that will operate like a militarized police force, with 10 groups of 450 to 600 troops assigned to the border with Guatemala. Three additional contingents will deploy to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico, a geographic chokepoint, to set up roadblocks and highway checkpoints.

By September, up to 6,000 Guard troops will be deployed in southern Mexico, up from the force of 1,500 federal police officers currently there, officials said.

"That's a remarkable and significant commitment of resources beyond what they've previously dedicated to countering human smuggling," said the U.S. official familiar with the negotiations. "It's also remarkable that they have identified the need for more detention, processing and repatriation ability, which will be necessary for any sustained effort."

On Capitol Hill, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said he would introduce a resolution of disapproval if the president were to proceed with the planned tariffs. Lawmakers could thwart Trump's import tax plan only if they can deliver a two-thirds vote, enough to override a presidential veto.

"The president's proposed tariffs would hurt American workers, businesses, and consumers. Commandeering U.S. trade policy to influence border security is an abuse of power," Neal said.

Information for this article was contributed by Nick Miroff, David J. Lynch, Kevin Sieff and Josh Dawsey of The Washington Post; and by Mark Stevenson, Jill Colvin, Matthew Lee, Luis Alonso Lugo, Zeke Miller, Paul Wiseman, Lisa Mascaro, Darlene Superville and Padmananda Rama of The Associated Press.

A Section on 06/07/2019

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