If there's one thing you can count on, it's the Trump administration's ability to put its best two left feet forward in the realm of diplomatic dances with America’s closest allies. This week, Donald "Winning" Trump has done it again! Because he hadn't thoroughly tanked relations with Mexico during his last go 'round over who's paying for his precious border wall (Answer: Not Mexico), Nahal Toosi writes:
The Trump administration riled Mexican officials by choosing Tuesday — on the eve of visits by the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to Mexico City — to release sweeping guidelines on deportations and a border wall.
As Mexican officials rushed to contact the State Department for more information, the timing of the guidelines' release threatened to severely hinder what could have been a diplomatic make-up session, U.S. and Mexican officials and analysts said.
Not to worry! From the cone of alternative facts known as the White House briefing room, press secretary Sean Spicer called U.S.-Mexico relations "phenomenal right now." Back in reality, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray had a different take, roundly rejecting the Department of Homeland Security's new deportation policies.
"I want to say clearly and emphatically that the government of Mexico and the Mexican people do not have to accept provisions that one government unilaterally wants to impose on the other," the Mexican foreign minister said. "We will not accept it, because there's no reason why we should, and because it is not in the interests of Mexico."
The new memos outline plans to return all undocumented immigrants who illegally enter the U.S. through Mexico back to Mexico (regardless of their country of origin) and to hold U.S. asylum seekers in Mexico until their cases can be heard. It’s worth noting that Mexico has been a good partner in trying to stem illegal immigration into the U.S. But Team Trump is batting zero right now.
Surely, the “winning” will be starting any day now.