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Mexico wants 'regional solution' to curb migrant flow to US Mexico 'has 45 days to curb migrant flow to US'
(about 5 hours later)
Mexico's foreign minister says they are ready to work with other Latin American countries to stem the flow of migrants. Mexico admits it has 45 days to reduce the number of US-bound migrants, in a deal agreed with the US that staved off the imposition of tariffs.
Marcelo Ebrard also said they would try reinforcing their southern border to deliver the swift reduction in migrants demanded by US President Donald Trump. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said if troop reinforcements on its southern borders did not work, "additional measures" would need to be discussed.
Mexico has 45 days to reduce the number of US-bound migrants crossing its territory, or else face US tariffs. He said this might mean a "regional solution" involving other nations.
Even though no specific target has been set, Mr Ebrard said these measures would be evaluated in mid-July. But the US is also likely to require Mexico to process the asylum claims of migrants on its own soil.
If the number was not down by then, discussions would take place with Brazil, Panama and Guatemala - the countries currently used by migrants as transit points. What has Mr Ebrard said about the deal?
'Buying time' He held a press conference which seemed to suggest a difference of opinion about what was actually in the deal announced between the US and Mexico last Friday.
Mr Ebrard said the agreement reached with the US on Friday after days of "most difficult negotiation" bought Mexico time to show it could succeed in driving down the number of migrants. In a tweet, US President Donald Trump said there was a "very important part" of the deal that had been "fully signed and documented" but not yet announced that would give the US what it had been asking for "for many years".
He said that US negotiators had wanted Mexico to commit to "zero migrants" crossing its territory, but according to Mr Ebrard, that was "mission impossible". "It will be revealed in the not too distant future and will need a vote by Mexico's legislative body", the president tweeted, adding that if the vote failed "tariffs will be reinstated".
Mr Ebrard said the US side also wanted to designate Mexico as a "safe third country", which would have required Mexico to take in asylum seekers heading for the US and process their claims on its own soil. Commentators suggest this is the "safe third country" arrangement, under which migrants would have to apply first for asylum in Mexico, rather than the US, and be turned away if they do not.
The foreign minister said that he had averted that measure for the time being: "We told them - I think it was the most important achievement of the negotiations - 'let's set a time period to see if what Mexico is proposing will work, and if not, we'll sit down and see what additional measures are needed'". Mr Ebrard said the US had been insistent on this measure.
Mexico said it would deploy its National Guard throughout the country from Monday with 6,000 additional troops being sent to its southern border with Guatemala. But he said: "We told them - I think it was the most important achievement of the negotiations - 'let's set a time period to see if what Mexico is proposing will work, and if not, we'll sit down and see what additional measures'" are needed.
"They wanted something else totally different to be signed. But that is what there is here. There is no other thing," he said.
Mr Ebrard also said US negotiators had wanted Mexico to commit to "zero migrants" crossing its territory, but that was "mission impossible".
President Trump has also said Mexico will soon make "large" agricultural purchases from the US.
But Mr Ebrard said there had been no additional agreement with the US and that the American president was probably referring to expected growth in trade following the migration deal.
So what will Mexico be doing?
It is deploying 6,000 National Guard personnel to the southern border with Guatemala to try to stem the flow.
It has also agreed to support the expansion of the scheme that returns asylum seekers already in the US to Mexico to wait out the processing of their claims.
Mr Ebrard said the efforts to stem the flow on the southern border would be re-evaluated in mid-July.
If it failed, he said, other countries would need to be drawn in to the matter. Discussions would begin with Brazil, Panama and Guatemala - the countries currently used by migrants as transit points.
A "safe third country" arrangement would create huge problems for Mexico, which says it does not have the resources to integrate thousands of additional migrants.
How did we get here?How did we get here?
Illegal border crossings on Mexico's northern border with the US have been on the rise again after reaching a low in US President Donald Trump's first year in office. Illegal border crossings on Mexico's northern border with the US have been on the rise again after reaching a low in Mr Trump's first year in office.
In February, Mr Trump declared an emergency on the US-Mexico border, saying it was necessary in order to tackle what he described as a crisis. In February, he declared an emergency on the US-Mexico border, saying it was necessary in order to tackle what he described as a crisis.
In May, Mr Trump threatened that 5% tariffs on Mexican goods would be imposed on 10 June and rise by 5% every month until reaching 25% in October if Mexico did not take substantial action to curb migration.In May, Mr Trump threatened that 5% tariffs on Mexican goods would be imposed on 10 June and rise by 5% every month until reaching 25% in October if Mexico did not take substantial action to curb migration.
Mexico is currently one of the largest trading partners for the US, just behind China and Canada. After days of negotiations, a deal was reached on Friday which both sides hailed as a success. Mexico is currently one of the largest trading partners for the US, just behind China and Canada.
But on Monday, President Trump warned that tariffs were not off the table completely, saying that if the part of the deal which required approval by Mexico's congress was not passed, the tariffs would be reinstated.
Asked about the tweet, Mr Ebrard said that he thought President Trump was referring to possible regional measures to be taken in conjunction with Central American nations from which most of the migrants hail from.
He said those measures would only be taken if the planned actions by the Mexican government, such as reinforcing its border with Guatemala, failed.
"If these measures don't work, we'd have to move to a regional model to be approved by the [Mexican] Congress, that's what he is referring to," Mr Ebrard told reporters at a news conference.
President Trump also said that Mexico would soon make "large" agricultural purchases from the US.
But when asked about that deal on Monday, Mr Ebrard said that there had been no additional agreement with the US and that the American president was likely referring to expected growth in trade following the migration deal.
Asked by reporters at the White House that same day about the contradiction, Mr Trump said again that there was another agreement that would be announced "very soon".
"They have to get approval and they will get approval. If they don't get approval we'll have to think in terms of tariffs."