A weekend news report claiming the U.S. immigration pact with Mexico was a hodge-podge of recycled ideas that America’s southern neighbor had already agreed to is coming under fresh criticism, as the Trump administration denies it and a separate report challenges the claims.
The debate follows President Trump’s move to threaten crushing tariffs against Mexico, only to back off late Friday claiming he had extracted an agreement with the country to confront the flow of migrants from Central America. The New York Times, in a report Trump continues to slam, swiftly challenged the administration’s narrative by claiming parts of the agreement were already in the works before the tariff drama.
But The Washington Post on Tuesday published a separate report, citing Trump administration and Mexican officials as well as documents, giving a different perspective. The Post called Mexico’s promises “unprecedented” and the measures “more substantial” than promises made by Mexican officials in the past.
According to the joint declaration issued by the State Department, Mexico will take “unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration, to include the deployment of its National Guard throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern border.”