Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard says Mexico is fulfilling its promise to the United States to reduce the number of migrants traveling through Mexico from Central America. Late Friday (9/6), Ebrard announced, alongside Mexico’s President, that apprehensions along its southern border were down 56%. The beginning of September marked the end of a 90-day period in which the Mexican government had to prove to the US it could reduce illegal migration.
In May, President Trump had threatened to slap hefty tariffs on Mexican exports if that country didn’t do more to stop people using Mexico as an express lane to the US. Within hours, officials from Mexico flew to Washington DC for an emergency meeting. Minister Ebrard agreed to a more aggressive border enforcement in his country, along with ramped up efforts to stop human trafficking. Ebrard says 20,000 cops, national guard troops and security personnel have been deployed throughout the country.
Tomorrow (9/10), Ebrard and his team will meet with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to review the last 90 days. Pompeo says while he’s pleased with the efforts by the Mexican government the threat of tariffs is still on the table.
According to stats from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), there were 63,989 apprehensions along the US/Mexico border compared to 146,266 in May. Ebrard says the Mexican strategy is working.
The US Chamber of Commerce says it acknowledges the crisis along the US/Mexico border but any ‘revenge’ tariff would be dangerous and cause instability to US trading partners in Europe and Japan.
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Photo: Gobierno de Mexico (Government of Mexico)