Trump defends deal with Mexico that critics say will do little to curb migrant crisis

President Trump and his allies on Sunday declared victory in the tariffs standoff with Mexico after the administration appeared to have secured significant commitments from the Mexican government to stem the flow of Central American migrants at the U.S. border.

The agreement gave Trump fresh ammunition against his critics, who have pointed out that his controversial negotiating tactics have yielded far fewer results than promised on multiple issues during his time in office.

Whether the deal will greatly reduce the number of migrants entering the United States remains to be seen. But it nonetheless represents a serious effort by Mexico to do more on an issue central to Trump’s reelection campaign after he threatened to impose a 5 percent across-the-board tariff on one of the United States’ top trading partners.

Mexico announced Friday night that it would implement “strong measures” to reduce the flow of migrants across its territory toward the southern U.S. border, including the unprecedented deployment of thousands of Mexican national guard troops. It also agreed to expand a program allowing Central American migrants to stay in Mexico while they await the adjudication of their asylum claims.

“The president put a charge in his whole dialogue with Mexico with the tariff threats, brought them to the table,” Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” “The foreign minister of Mexico arrived within hours. He arrived the next day with real proposals on the table. This is the first time we’ve heard anything like this kind of number of law enforcement being deployed in Mexico to address migrations.”

With arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border soaring and Trump lashing out — at Democrats, foreign governments and U.S. laws — Homeland Security officials are under enormous pressure to halt the migration boom. The Trump administration’s efforts to deter migration have not worked, either being shot down in the courts or failing to get through Congress. And Mexican officials brushed off some of the president’s earlier demands.