The details about the agreement between the United States and Mexico to stem the flow of migrants crossing the U. S. border are still surfacing, but Mexico is already ramping up security to police migrants as President Donald Trump announces tariffs are still possible if the deal falls through.
The Mexico Daily News reported over the weekend that the Mexican government will build barracks just north of the Guatemala border in Suchiate, Chiapas, that will be used to house National Guard troops.
“Sonia Hernández (the mayor of Suchiate) told the newspaper Milenio that the government asked authorities in Suchiate to provide the land for the new base,” the Daily News reported and added that the “municipal government spent 1.2 million pesos (U.S. $61,000) to purchase a three-hectare parcel of land in Nuevo Dorado, a small town nine kilometers north of the Mexico-Guatemala border.”
Hernandez did not say how many troops would be deployed, but it has been reported that 6,000 are being sent to Mexico’s southern border.
The Mexican newspaper reported on Trump’s announcement about the agreement:
Trump said Mexico “has agreed to take strong measures to stem the tide of migration through Mexico, and to our southern border. This is being done to greatly reduce, or eliminate, illegal immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States.”
Federal Police and military personnel are already deployed to the area – and detained more than half of the most recent arrivals – but Hernández said that news of the deployment of the National Guard is welcome.
“We’re definitely very happy,” the mayor said, describing Suchiate as “the door of Mexico.”
Meanwhile, Trump on Monday said that some of the details of the agreement would be revealed later, because they need to be approved by Mexican lawmakers and tariffs are still on the table.
“He did not provide details but threatened tariffs if Mexico’s Congress did not approve the plan,” Reuters reported.
“We have fully signed and documented another very important part of the Immigration and Security deal with Mexico, one that the U.S. 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 said on Twitter.
“We do not anticipate a problem with the vote but, if for any reason the approval is not forthcoming, tariffs will be reinstated,” Trump tweeted.
In May, Trump said a five percent tariff would be placed on goods coming from Mexico unless the government agreed to help reduce the flow of migrants.
As Breitbart News has reported, as many as one million apprehensions are likely to be made at the U.S. border with Mexico in 2019.
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