President Trump is a flexible negotiator who usually gets most of what he is asking for in one way or another.
The flexibility is the key – he can move quickly among different positions and different groups to strike the best deal possible, something his more entrenched political opponents have a difficult time doing.
One recent example is Trump’s clever new plan to officially put an end to Obama’s catch and release debacle.
From The Washington Times: Asylum-seekers who crossed Mexico to reach the U.S. will be shipped back to Mexico to wait while their cases are being processed, the Trump administration announced Thursday, taking a bold and controversial step to try to head off new waves of illegal immigration.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Mexico is on board, and will offer humanitarian visas and work permits so the migrants can live while they wait for a decision from American authorities.
The administration’s goal is to keep people from abusing the U.S. asylum system by making bogus requests then, after being admitted to wait for a ruling, slipping into the shadows with other illegal immigrants where they are not able to be found and deported after their cases are denied.
“Aliens trying to game the system to get into our country illegally will no longer be able to disappear into the United States, where many skip their court dates. Instead, they will wait for an immigration court decision while they are in Mexico,” she said in a statement.
She said that should help end the catch-and-release practice that’s enticed a new wave of migrants to make the dangerous trip north, confident of gaining a foothold in the U.S. as their reward.
Ms. Nielsen is acting under a part of the law that’s never been triggered before, but which the administration had long eyed. President Trump had suggested it in one of his first executive orders in January 2017, and news reports had described internal deliberations over the months since.
Immigrant-rights activists had feared the U.S. and Mexico would strike a deal, and they complained that making migrants wait in Mexico was cruel and dangerous.
Asylum cases in the U.S. can take years to resolve, with a massive backlog built up as migrants figured out how to game the system. Claims, averaged fewer than 500 a month a decade ago, now near 10,000 a month.
Making migrants wait in Mexico for years could serve as a significant deterrent to those who don’t have valid claims, but were hoping to take advantage of lax enforcement.
This is historic – getting Mexico on board because it wouldn’t have worked without them was the first step, and the second is to officially end the catch and release debacle by making them wait in Mexico (for years in most cases) until their asylum cases are heard.
This will absolutely make the next caravan migrants stay home.
From The AP:
Mexico has agreed to a U.S. proposal to let third-country migrants remain in or be returned to Mexico while their claims for asylum in the United States are being processed.
The decision was a historic one for Mexico, which has traditionally refused to accept the return of any migrants who aren’t Mexican.
Mexico’s Foreign relations Department said Thursday the move is a temporary, humanitarian measure.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has been struggling with an increase in asylum claims and limits on its ability to detain asylum seekers
