The United States and Guatemala are preparing to sign a “safe third country” agreement to help curb Central American migration, a late-night Monday tweet from President Donald Trump revealed.
If signed, the agreement will give U.S. border officers the legal authority to quickly repatriate migrants who pass through Guatemala, regardless of the catch-and-release loopholes created and preserved by the U.S. Congress and courts. In effect, the deal would create a legal wall against Latin American, African, and Indian migrants who pass through Guatemala.
The tweet also said enforcement agencies will accelerate the repatriation of “millions” of illegal immigrants — even though Democrats and many establishment GOP legislators are blocking the legal reforms and funding needed to repatriate more than a small percentage of the more-than-11-million illegal migrants now living throughout the United States.
Trump’s deputies are also pushing Mexico to sign a safe third country deal if Mexico cannot sharply reduce the huge migration by Latin Americans through its own territory to the United States.
Pro-migration advocates denounced the Guatemalan “safe third country” plan — even though their policies are allowing up to 1 million Central American migrants to flood into Americans’ workplaces, neighborhoods, and classrooms. That wave of migrants — which now includes a growing number of Africans and Indians — is good for university class professionals, investors, and for business groups, but it hurts ordinary Americans by lowering wages, raising rents and importing more chaotic diversity.
Image Credit: Moises Castillo- AP
