Although there’s still no wall between Mexico and the USA, President Trump’s team is continuing to show much more creativity about solving the immigration crisis than any other president since Eisenhower.
Currently on the drawing board, according to an unexpected piece of reporting from the New Yorker, is a plan that would send future asylum seekers to Guatemala. The story is unclear on the logistics of such a proposal, but if it can be put in place, it could be a game changer for the plot to overwhelm US border facilities.
Early next week, according to a D.H.S. official, the Trump Administration is expected to announce a major immigration deal, known as a safe-third-country agreement, with Guatemala. … According to a draft of the agreement obtained by The New Yorker, asylum seekers from any country who either show up at U.S. ports of entry or are apprehended while crossing between ports of entry could be sent to seek asylum in Guatemala instead.
Although this would obviously not apply to asylum seekers from Guatemala, it would be a way to handle asylum seekers from Honduras and El Salvador as well as other Central American countries. Those from Guatemala would probably be referred to Mexico, with whom Trump has also been negotiating a “safe third country” agreement.
What’s so striking about the agreement with Guatemala, however, is that it goes even further than the terms the U.S. sought in its dealings with Mexico. “This is a whole new level,” the person with knowledge of the agreement told me. “In my read, it looks like even those who have never set foot in Guatemala can potentially be sent there.”
President Jimmy Morales of Guatemala is scheduled to meet with President Trump on Monday, so we may find out more quickly. In any case, this is one more example of how Trump is rethinking how to use the powers of government to benefit our country instead of bankrupting it.
To read more of my columns about the Dishonest Media, the Deep Swamp, the failed presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and Trump’s war to restore American greatness, read my “Why We Needed Trump” trilogy. Part 1 is subtitled “Bush’s Global Failure: Half Right.” Part 2 is “Obama’s Fundamental Transformation: Far Left.” Part 3 is “Trump’s American Vision: Just Right.” My new book is “The Media Matrix: What If Everything You Know Is Fake.” They are all available at Amazon in paperback or Kindle editions. Also visit Heartland Diary on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1FmrOF2TF-njRznqoU4yjA
