Mexico Signals Resistance to Harder U.S. Line on Immigration -- Update
February 22 2017 - 5:02PM
Dow Jones News
By Felicia Schwartz and Robbie Whelan
As U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security
Secretary John Kelly arrived in Mexico on Wednesday, Mexico's
foreign minister identified the Trump administration's new
immigration guidelines as the main topic of high-level discussions
set to begin this evening in Mexico City.
Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Mexico wouldn't accept any
policy changes unilaterally imposed by the U.S., such as a new
guideline ordering the deportation to Mexico of migrants from third
countries.
"I want to make it emphatically clear that neither Mexico's
government or the Mexican people have any reason to accept
provisions that have been unilaterally imposed by one government on
the other," Mr. Videgaray said. "We won't accept it because we
don't have to."
Messrs. Tillerson and Kelly were scheduled to meet Wednesday
night and Thursday with Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto, Mr.
Videgaray and the Mexican ministers of finance, interior, national
defense and the navy. They were to discuss border security,
law-enforcement cooperation, trade and other issues, the State
Department said.
The trip follows the Trump administration's announcement Tuesday
of major changes to the enforcement of immigration law at the
border of Mexico and in the U.S. that make almost anybody in the
U.S. illegally subject to deportation at any time. The directive
also includes a review of all federal aid the U.S. provides to
Mexico.
Mr. Videgaray said Mexico would use all legal means to protect
the rights of Mexicans in the U.S., including calling on the United
Nations and other international institutions.
News of the new deportation rules was posted quickly on Mexican
media sites,l prompting an aggressive campaign by some Mexican
officials, governors and public figures to fight the policy by
jamming up U.S. immigration courts.
The timing of the latest immigration overhaul ratchets up
tensions that the two allies have struggled to ease. Mr. Peña Nieto
canceled a trip to the U.S. last month after Mr. Trump increased
pressure on Mexico to pay for the wall Mr. Trump wants built along
the southern U.S. border. The leaders also had a testy phone call
last month, during which Mr. Trump reportedly told Mr. Peña Nieto
that Mexico has "some pretty tough hombres" and that the country
wasn't doing enough to fight cartels.
The two agreed in the call not to speak publicly about the
border wall, according to Mexican officials familiar with the
matter, but the issue is expected to come up in the discussions
this week.
Adding to the strain, Mr. Trump is expected to demand a
renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which
links the U.S., Mexican and Canadian economies.
Ahead of the visit, Mexican officials have suggested that if the
U.S. pulls out of Nafta, it would affect all aspects of the
U.S.-Mexico relationship.
"Logically, there wouldn't be incentives to continue
collaborating on the issues most important to national security in
North America, such as the issue of migration," Mexico's economy
minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, told local newspaper Milenio in an
interview published Tuesday.
Such remarks have surprised experts on the U.S.-Mexico
relationship because they indicate the countries' longstanding
friendship has deteriorated. In addition to having tariff-free
cross-border trade, Mexico and the U.S. have collaborated for
decades on efforts to fight drug cartels, police the border and
prevent terror attacks.
Mr. Guajardo isn't scheduled to be in the meetings with Messrs.
Tillerson and Kelly, a notable absence because his office is
responsible for representing his country's trade interests and is
expected to quarterback the renegotiation of Nafta for Mexico.
His U.S. counterpart, Mr. Trump's nominee for commerce
secretary, Wilbur Ross, hasn't yet been confirmed by the U.S.
Senate, nor has Robert Lighthizer, Mr. Trump's pick for U.S. trade
representative, the official who would lead any Nafta renegotiation
for the U.S.
Mexican officials want to have a comprehensive conversation
about the two countries' relationship, in order to use issues
including national security and migration as leverage for future
conversations about Nafta, experts said. The U.S., in moving to
examine aid to Mexico, also appears to be searching for leverage in
future talks. The U.S. has pledged $135 million to Mexico this
year.
"Mexico wants to link those issues in a way that has rarely been
done before," said Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at
the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank. "There's never been a
need for that and Mexico has avoided it as much as possible, but
now there is a need, so they're doing it."
Write to Felicia Schwartz at Felicia.Schwartz@wsj.com and Robbie
Whelan at robbie.whelan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 22, 2017 16:47 ET (21:47 GMT)
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