Sabtu, 08 Juni 2019

Trump is avoiding a crisis of his own making with US-Mexico migrant deal, critics say - USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump kept American business leaders, GOP lawmakers and Mexican negotiators on a knife's edge for seven anxiety-filled days with his threat to slap an escalating series of tariffs on all Mexican imports if the country didn't address migrants coming to the southern border.

When Trump yanked back his economic ultimatum late Friday night, he seemed to walk away with a win-win: no new trade war with a major U.S. economic partner, and "strong measures" by Mexico to curb the flow of Central American migrants. 

But critics say Trump avoided a political crisis of his own making – one that could have wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy and sparked a political revolt from within his own party. And it's not clear how much the agreement with Mexico will really accomplish on illegal immigration, Trump's signature issue.  

"One of Donald Trump’s signature moves as president is to act as both arsonist and firefighter, taking credit for resolving pseudo-crises that he in fact initiated," Brendan Nyhan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, wrote in a recent post on Medium. 

U.S. reaches deal with Mexico: Trump pulls Mexico tariff threat while claiming deal over migrants reached

Countdown to US-Mexico tariff deadline: Trump says there's 'good chance' a deal can be reached

He noted that Trump's threatened tariffs could have hurt his own re-election prospects in 2020, as U.S. companies and consumers absorbed increased costs of Mexican imports. The president, he said, had a strong incentive to "solve" the problem that began last week when Trump first tweeted his tariff threat. 

Nyhan isn’t alone. While Republicans applauded the president and the deal, others argued he shouldn't receive credit.

Ned Price, a spokesman for the National Security Council under President Barack Obama, tweeted that Trump is "so predictable" and follows a "simple recipe."

Price said the president manufactures "a crisis on an issue of importance to the base," then leaves "success undefined," pretends "to play hardball in a way that rallies the base," solves the manufactured crisis and then disguises "the status quo as a 'huge success.'"

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had asked Trump to brief Republican lawmakers before imposing tariffs. Lawmakers grew more nervous Friday after a weaker-than-expected jobs report, which some analysts said was due at least in part to the recent escalation of U.S. trade battles.

Trump's defenders say the end result – a new immigration deal with Mexico – shows the strength of the president's negotiating skills. 

“President Trump’s newly-signed agreement with Mexico is great news for both our economy and our country’s border security," House Republican Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, declared in a statement Friday night. "Once again, President Trump has proven those who doubted him wrong by getting Mexico to step up their efforts to help us secure our southern border." 

How the deal works

The agreement itself, released Friday by the U.S. State Department, is light on details, lacking specific numbers or other hard targets. But there are essentially two tangible elements: 

• Mexico agreed to take "unprecedented steps to increase enforcement" along its southern border with Guatemala, where many Central Americans are crossing into Mexico on their way to the U.S. The country also said it would crack down on human smuggling organizations. 

• Mexico agreed to expand a U.S. policy in which migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. will wait in Mexico for their claims to be adjudicated, something that can take months, though the U.S. said it would “work to accelerate” the process. While there, Mexico will offer jobs, health care and other services to the refugees. 

More: President Trump: 'Progress' but no breakthrough with Mexico as tariff deadline looms

The resulting deal shows the Trump administration abandoned its most controversial demand – that Mexico agree to be designated as a safe third-party country, which would have meant accepting asylum applications from thousands of Central American migrants.

However, the agreement does include a trigger for another round of talks if the U.S. isn't satisfied over the next several months: “Both parties also agree that, in the event the measures adopted do not have the expected results, they will take further actions,” meaning Trump could revive his tariffs threat if the number of migrants arriving at the U.S. border doesn't go down. The president had previously threatened a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports.

The Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, mocked the agreement on Twitter, saying that since the president claimed to have solved the migrant crisis, “I’m sure we won’t be hearing any more about it in the future.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the deal did not address the root causes of the migration crisis. And she said Trump undermined America's status as a world leader by "recklessly threatening to impose tariffs on our close friend and neighbor to the south." 

Civil rights groups mount attacks

Immigration advocates said the deal could put vulnerable migrants in greater danger. 

They took aim at the expansion of a program known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, which the U.S. rolled out in January to place asylum seekers back in Mexico until their claims are decided. Critics said that prevents migrants from seeking needed legal help in their asylum claim. 

"This is just another chaotic, cruel and counterproductive attempt to block refugees from the United States," said Eleanor Acer, senior director of refugee protection at Human Rights First.

The groups say that Mexico is unsafe, and the country cannot be entrusted with the massive task of housing potentially thousands of migrants, given that the small number of shelters operating in Mexican border towns are already overwhelmed.

The American Civil Liberties Union vowed to continue a legal challenge it has mounted against that program.

“The Trump administration announced that it intends to further expand its forced return to Mexico policy, which has been illegal since Day 1 and has already proven to be a disaster,” Omar Jadwat, director of ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement on Friday.

Breaking a record: Border Patrol apprehended record number of migrant families in May as Trump threatens Mexico

Asylum win for Trump: Appeals court rules Trump administration can make asylum seekers wait in Mexico for now

Halting aid over migrant flow: US cutting off humanitarian aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador

Contributing: Alan Gomez 

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/06/08/trumps-deal-over-migrants-mexico-self-made-crisis-critics-say/1391843001/

2019-06-08 19:13:00Z
52780309231204

Russian Journalist Ivan Golunov Arrested On Drug Charges, Then Hospitalized - NPR

Russian journalist Ivan Golunov in Moscow on October 27, 2018. Reuters hide caption

toggle caption
Reuters

Well-known Russian investigative journalist Ivan Golunov was hospitalized Saturday after two days in police custody. He was detained on Thursday and charged with attempting to sell drugs on Saturday, according to Meduza, the online news site where Golunov, 36, works.

According to police, authorities found mephedrone, a narcotic, on the journalist during a search Thursday. They say they also found additional drugs, including cocaine, along with scales, in Golunov's apartment.

Supporters of detained journalist Ivan Golunov rally at the Moscow police headquarters on Friday, June 7. Dmitry Serebryakov/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Dmitry Serebryakov/AP

Golunov says the drugs were planted, according to a statement from Meduza's CEO and editor-in-chief. The site also wrote that its correspondent was beaten in police custody and that he had to wait almost 14 hours to see his lawyer.

Russian authorities denied beating Golunov during his arrest. But on Saturday, officials announced that he was taken to a hospital after a medical examination in police custody. Independent Russian news agency Interfax reported that Golunov left the hospital Saturday and taken to a court in Moscow.

News of Golunov's arrest prompted an outcry in Moscow, especially among journalists. Dozens gathered outside Moscow's police headquarters on Friday.

"Russia has a long history of politically motivated charges against independent reporters. Investigative journalism is treated as a crime where it ought to be viewed as a public service," said a representative from Committee to Protect Journalists, Gulnoza Said. "We are convinced that Ivan Golunov is innocent. Moreover, we have reason to believe he's been targeted because of his work as a journalist."

PEN America, which advocates for free expression around the world, also weighed in: "These questionable accusations reflect the Russian government's long-standing practice of harassing its critics via both legalistic and clearly extra-legal means, which appear to have widened as regional elections are coming in September."

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.npr.org/2019/06/08/730910617/russian-investigative-journalist-hospitalized-after-arrest-on-alleged-drug-crime

2019-06-08 18:57:00Z
CAIiEEjwrSsIxLZsyLzGCkhwqhMqFggEKg4IACoGCAow9vBNMK3UCDCvpUk

Mexican officials hail tariff-averting pact with U.S. even as worries emerge - The Washington Post

President Trump agreed not to impose a five percent tariff on Mexican products in exchange for the country expanding a controversial asylum program.

MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials sought to portray victory Saturday after a deal with the Trump administration to potentially curb migration and avert U.S. tariffs, but others questioned whether the bargain may end up as an open-ended burden.

The contrasting views — after a late Friday announcement of the agreement by President Trump — highlighted the uncertainties in Mexico about the provisions of the pact and whether the White House could use similar tariff threats in the future to try to exact more concessions.

The agreement calls for the Mexican government to widely dispatch its national guard forces to help with immigration enforcement on its border with Guatemala, according to a joint statement.

It also expands the so-called “Remain in Mexico” program, returning asylum seekers across the border to await their hearings in U.S. immigration court — a process that can take months.

Mexican diplomats called it a triumph that they were able to secure a deal without agreeing to a “safe third country” agreement, which would have forced Central American asylum seekers to apply for refuge in Mexico, rather than allowing them to make their claims in the United States.

“The bilateral relationship is strengthened for the benefit of the region,” wrote Jesus Seade, Mexico’s deputy foreign minister for North America.

Mexico’s president, Andres Manual López Obrador, planned a speech later Saturday in the border city of Tijuana.

Mexico’s private sector meanwhile celebrated its reprieve from tariffs, which business leaders said would have been catastrophic.

“As little damage as possible,” wrote Gibrán Ramírez Reyes, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. “Diplomacy has triumphed.”

[Mexico aims to avoid tariffs with possible deal to limit northbound migrants]

Still, if the United States sends the bulk of asylum seekers to wait in Mexico during often-lengthy cases, Mexico might suddenly see a surge of tens of thousands of migrants stuck on its northern border. Politicians in the region, in particular, worried about what that surge might mean for their cities, which have already seen an increase in migrants waiting to enter the United States.

“We need to know how the Mexican government is going to contain the migrants, how they are going to identify those who make it into Mexico,” said Maki Ortiz, the mayor of Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Tex. “We need to know how long the migrants are going to be on our border, how they’re going to get access to health services, to employment.”

“If the United States makes them wait long enough in Mexico for their asylum claims, eventually they’ll all try to cross illegally,” Ortiz added.

In border cities like Reynosa, migrants and deportees are frequently targeted by criminal groups, sometimes extorted and attacked.

In 2011, 193 bus passengers, most of them migrants, were killed in the nearby town of San Fernando. A Mexican government report later found that they had been abducted by local police officers linked to a drug cartel.

“In a worst-case scenario, this quantity of people could create a major problem for border cities that will have to house a population of migrants waiting for their hearings in the United States, with no prospects for work or permanent housing, and at the mercy of groups criminals who will see migrants as easy prey,” wrote Andrew Selee, the president of the Migration Policy Institute, an op-ed in Mexico’s El Universal newspaper.

Before the agreement was announced, business leaders expressed concern that even Trump’s threat of tariffs abated, he would use the same tactic to pressure Mexico in the near future.

“Even if Mexico accepts all of the conditions right now, what could happen next week? Maybe Mr. Trump wakes up in the morning and decides to say something else. This might not be the end. We will appear like a piñata,” said Rafael Villanueva, the president of the San Luis Potosi chapter of Index, a national manufacturing council.

Christian Torres

AP

Semitrailers idle in line on the Córdova-Américas International Bridge as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Business leaders said they were caught off guard by Trump’s tariff threat because it came after both countries, along with Canada, had mostly finished renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, an arduous process that many believed would allow for the growth of North America’s interconnected supply chain. 

[Trump pushes tariff decision amid fevered talks ]

 “Everything seemed to be positive. We were awaiting the ratification of the [the new trade deal] in both congresses. We did not foresee see that this pressure would come,” said Luis Enrique Zavala Gallegos, the vice president of Mexico’s national association for importers and exporters. “Anyone who says they were prepared is not telling the truth. Even the government wasn’t prepared for this.”

One report from the Perryman Group, an economic analysis firm based in Texas, estimated that the tariffs would lead to a $41.5 billion loss to the U.S. economy and 400,000 lost American jobs. Mexico’s government has said that the impact will ripple across the country’s entire economy. The minister of agriculture, livestock and rural development, Víctor Manuel Villalobos Arámbula, said Mexico’s agricultural sector alone would lost $3.8 million per day. 

Hector Vivas

Getty Images

Export freight containers with Mexican-produced goods are seen ready to be shipped to the United States in the Pantaco customs complex on June 7 in Mexico City.

“Mexico cannot and should not bend the knee to Trump’s ultimatum,” said Arturo Sarukhan, a former Mexican ambassador to the United States.

He called it a “bad omen” and worried that Trump could seek further pressure on Mexico as the 2020 presidential race heats up.

“More than a deal, what Trump is looking for is a trophy,” Sarukhan said.

Some argued the Trump’s threat made it clear that the time had come for Mexico to look to other trading partners, especially China.

“We must look for other markets to compensate us for these lower sales,” said Jorge Macias, the president of Tijuana’s chamber of commerce.

Like many in the private sector, Macias expressed frustration at Trump that went well beyond the recent threat of tariffs.

“It is exhausting for Mexico and puts us in a scenario where we lose out,” Macias said. “It is a constant aggression by President Trump.” 

Read more

GOP lawmakers warn White House they will try to block tariffs

Trump defies close advisers in deciding to threaten Mexico with tariffs

U.S. hiring slows sharply as Trump trade war start to bite

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexican-officials-hail-tariff-averting-pact-with-us-even-as-worries-emerge/2019/06/08/fcee754a-8886-11e9-9d73-e2ba6bbf1b9b_story.html

2019-06-08 17:04:38Z
52780309231204

Mexican officials hail tariff-averting pact with U.S. even as worries emerge - The Washington Post

President Trump agreed not to impose a five percent tariff on Mexican products in exchange for the country expanding a controversial asylum program.

MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials sought to portray victory Saturday after a deal with the Trump administration to potentially curb migration and avert U.S. tariffs, but others questioned whether the bargain may end up as an open-ended burden.

The contrasting views — after a late Friday announcement of the agreement by President Trump — highlighted the uncertainties in Mexico about the provisions of the pact and whether the White House could use similar tariff threats in the future to try to exact more concessions.

The agreement calls for the Mexican government to widely dispatch its national guard forces to help with immigration enforcement on its border with Guatemala, according to a joint statement.

It also expands the so-called “Remain in Mexico” program, returning asylum seekers across the border to await their hearings in U.S. immigration court — a process that can take months.

Mexican diplomats called it a triumph that they were able to secure a deal without agreeing to a “safe third country” agreement, which would have forced Central American asylum seekers to apply for refuge in Mexico, rather than allowing them to make their claims in the United States.

“The bilateral relationship is strengthened for the benefit of the region,” wrote Jesus Seade, Mexico’s deputy foreign minister for North America.

Mexico’s president, Andres Manual López Obrador, planned a speech later Saturday in the border city of Tijuana.

Mexico’s private sector meanwhile celebrated its reprieve from tariffs, which business leaders said would have been catastrophic.

“As little damage as possible,” wrote Gibrán Ramírez Reyes, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. “Diplomacy has triumphed.”

[Mexico aims to avoid tariffs with possible deal to limit northbound migrants]

Still, if the United States sends the bulk of asylum seekers to wait in Mexico during often-lengthy cases, Mexico might suddenly see a surge of tens of thousands of migrants stuck on its northern border. Politicians in the region, in particular, worried about what that surge might mean for their cities, which have already seen an increase in migrants waiting to enter the United States.

“We need to know how the Mexican government is going to contain the migrants, how they are going to identify those who make it into Mexico,” said Maki Ortiz, the mayor of Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Tex. “We need to know how long the migrants are going to be on our border, how they’re going to get access to health services, to employment.”

“If the United States makes them wait long enough in Mexico for their asylum claims, eventually they’ll all try to cross illegally,” Ortiz added.

In border cities like Reynosa, migrants and deportees are frequently targeted by criminal groups, sometimes extorted and attacked.

In 2011, 193 bus passengers, most of them migrants, were killed in the nearby town of San Fernando. A Mexican government report later found that they had been abducted by local police officers linked to a drug cartel.

“In a worst-case scenario, this quantity of people could create a major problem for border cities that will have to house a population of migrants waiting for their hearings in the United States, with no prospects for work or permanent housing, and at the mercy of groups criminals who will see migrants as easy prey,” wrote Andrew Selee, the president of the Migration Policy Institute, an op-ed in Mexico’s El Universal newspaper.

Before the agreement was announced, business leaders expressed concern that even Trump’s threat of tariffs abated, he would use the same tactic to pressure Mexico in the near future.

“Even if Mexico accepts all of the conditions right now, what could happen next week? Maybe Mr. Trump wakes up in the morning and decides to say something else. This might not be the end. We will appear like a piñata,” said Rafael Villanueva, the president of the San Luis Potosi chapter of Index, a national manufacturing council.

Christian Torres

AP

Semitrailers idle in line on the Córdova-Américas International Bridge as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Business leaders said they were caught off guard by Trump’s tariff threat because it came after both countries, along with Canada, had mostly finished renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, an arduous process that many believed would allow for the growth of North America’s interconnected supply chain. 

[Trump pushes tariff decision amid fevered talks ]

 “Everything seemed to be positive. We were awaiting the ratification of the [the new trade deal] in both congresses. We did not foresee see that this pressure would come,” said Luis Enrique Zavala Gallegos, the vice president of Mexico’s national association for importers and exporters. “Anyone who says they were prepared is not telling the truth. Even the government wasn’t prepared for this.”

One report from the Perryman Group, an economic analysis firm based in Texas, estimated that the tariffs would lead to a $41.5 billion loss to the U.S. economy and 400,000 lost American jobs. Mexico’s government has said that the impact will ripple across the country’s entire economy. The minister of agriculture, livestock and rural development, Víctor Manuel Villalobos Arámbula, said Mexico’s agricultural sector alone would lost $3.8 million per day. 

Hector Vivas

Getty Images

Export freight containers with Mexican-produced goods are seen ready to be shipped to the United States in the Pantaco customs complex on June 7 in Mexico City.

“Mexico cannot and should not bend the knee to Trump’s ultimatum,” said Arturo Sarukhan, a former Mexican ambassador to the United States.

He called it a “bad omen” and worried that Trump could seek further pressure on Mexico as the 2020 presidential race heats up.

“More than a deal, what Trump is looking for is a trophy,” Sarukhan said.

Some argued the Trump’s threat made it clear that the time had come for Mexico to look to other trading partners, especially China.

“We must look for other markets to compensate us for these lower sales,” said Jorge Macias, the president of Tijuana’s chamber of commerce.

Like many in the private sector, Macias expressed frustration at Trump that went well beyond the recent threat of tariffs.

“It is exhausting for Mexico and puts us in a scenario where we lose out,” Macias said. “It is a constant aggression by President Trump.” 

Read more

GOP lawmakers warn White House they will try to block tariffs

Trump defies close advisers in deciding to threaten Mexico with tariffs

U.S. hiring slows sharply as Trump trade war start to bite

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexican-officials-hail-tariff-averting-pact-with-us-even-as-worries-emerge/2019/06/08/fcee754a-8886-11e9-9d73-e2ba6bbf1b9b_story.html

2019-06-08 17:03:45Z
52780309231204

The Duchess Of Sussex Made Her First Royal Appearance Since Welcoming Baby Archie - BuzzFeed News

The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, made her first royal appearance since giving birth to son Archie last month. The 37-year-old joined other members of the royal family on Saturday for Trooping The Colour, the Queen's annual birthday parade.

Samir Hussein / Samir Hussein / WireImage

The Queen turned 93 on April 21, but Trooping the Colour is the official celebration of the monarch's birthday and her ongoing reign.

Peter Summers / Getty Images

Meghan took a break from her maternity leave to ride in a carriage alongside husband, Prince Harry, the Duchess of Cornwall, and her sister-in-law Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Neil Mockford / GC Images

She wore a navy Givenchy look by her wedding dress designer, Clare Waight Keller, and a matching navy hat by Noel Stewart.

Chris Jackson / Getty Images

Eagle-eyed fans also noticed a new piece of jewellery on the new mum's wedding finger, which appeared to be an additional band.

Samir Hussein / Samir Hussein / WireImage

Meghan is wearing a third ring on her ring finger - a delicate pave-set band - alongside her engagement and wedding rings.

The couple, who celebrated their first wedding anniversary three weeks ago, welcomed their first child together on May 6. Aside from this appearance when the new parents introduced Archie to the world two days after his birth, the Duchess has remained out of the public eye.

WPA Pool / Getty Images

Meghan was noticeably absent from the past week's events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, and a state banquet at Buckingham Palace held in honour of US President Donald Trump.

Wpa Pool / Getty Images

Ahead of his arrival, the American president was accused of describing the LA born Duchess as "nasty", which he denied. Meghan had described the President as "misogynistic" in an old interview from 2016.

Clive Mason / Getty Images

Anyway, it looks like Meghan may be back on the royal scene — at least for the big family occasions.

Victoria Jones / PA Wire/PA Images

Got a confidential tip? Submit it here.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.buzzfeed.com/adeonibada/meghan-markle-first-royal-outing

2019-06-08 15:10:06Z
52780309996940

This teen's death wasn't euthanasia — but it was still deeply wrong - New York Post

When people are suffering mental anguish and want to kill themselves, should we simply let them die?

Noa Pothoven was a troubled 17-year-old in the Netherlands. She had suffered sexual assault at 11 and rape at 14. She was afflicted with anorexia. She had begged to die and succeeded in taking her life last Sunday.

The story that first exploded worldwide was that Pothoven was euthanized by the Dutch state.

But the original outrage subsided after subsequent news stories highlighted her death hadn’t actually been approved by the official euthanasia authority in the Netherlands. She had previously asked a clinic in The Hague to euthanize her but was denied because she didn’t have her parents’ permission.

Had Pothoven tried again, she may have gotten that approval. Natalie O’Neill reported for The Post that The Netherlands “allows children from 12 through 16 to kill themselves with permission from a parent and if a doctor agrees that their suffering is unbearable and likely to continue. At age 17, children no longer need their parents’ consent.”

Naomi O’Leary, a correspondent with Politico Europe, who was among the first to challenge the euthanasia story, tweeted, “Pothoven insisted she wanted no further treatment and a hospital bed was set up at home in the care of her parents. At the start of June she began refusing all fluids and food, and her parents and doctors agreed not to force feed her.”

The story didn’t horrify people all over the world because the state was involved but because a teenager was allowed to die

The state was not involved in killing Pothoven but is what ultimately happened so much better?

Whether this was euthanasia or regular suicide, something went terribly wrong here.

A Gallup poll last year found that 72 percent of Americans “continue to believe that doctors should be legally allowed, at a patient’s and a family’s request, to end a terminally ill patient’s life using painless means.” We picture the ailing elderly, the hopeless cancer patient, the people suffering debilitating, life-destroying diseases. It’s a mercy killing. The person can take no more.

We do not picture a 17-year-old, agonized with mental illness after trauma. The very definition of euthanasia, “the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma,” doesn’t apply.

The story didn’t horrify people all over the world because the state was involved but because a teenager was allowed to die. Whether it was because of intervention or because a decision was made not to stop her death is irrelevant.

A few days before her death, she posted to Instagram that she was planning to end her life. In a since-deleted post, Pothoven wrote “I will get straight to the point: Within a maximum of 10 days I will die.” She didn’t die suddenly from anorexia. She planned to die, and then she did. She starved herself to death while people around her watched. Is it so different than leaping from a bridge and having everyone step aside?

According to a report released in January by the World Health Organization, suicide is “the second-leading cause of death among 15- to 29-year-olds globally.” In America, it’s the second-leading cause of death among 10- to 34-year-olds. As recently as 2010, it was the 10th-leading cause. It is a growing problem and one that is contagious. Studies have shown that high-profile suicides lead to more suicides. Pothoven’s death could easily have that same result.

We want people to have autonomy and ease their suffering as much as possible. But that doesn’t mean we just allow people to kill themselves. Mental illness is difficult to combat, but giving up on a 17-year-old should never be normal or acceptable.

Pothoven’s death was not death by appointment. The media got that wrong. But what it actually was should still shock and appall us.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://nypost.com/2019/06/08/this-teens-death-wasnt-euthanasia-but-it-was-still-deeply-wrong/

2019-06-08 16:16:00Z
52780309816611

Mexico tariffs avoided: Trump and Mexican officials reach deal - Vox.com

President Donald Trump announced planned tariffs on Mexican goods will not go into effect as scheduled after his administration and Mexican officials reached an agreement on immigration policy Friday.

The tariffs — which would have been put in place on Monday — consisted of a 5 percent tax on all imported Mexican goods, and would have risen at regular intervals to 25 percent. Trump announced the tariffs hoping to force Mexico to reduce the number of Central American asylum seekers and immigrants arriving at the US southern border. The tariffs would have been devastating for the Mexican economy, and as Vox’s Dylan Scott reported, could have cost the average American family $900 per year.

Last week, Mexican officials, including Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, met with Vice President Mike Pence and other members of the Trump administration to negotiate a deal to avoid the mutually harmful tariffs. Those talks led to an agreement, with both sides offering concessions to the other.

Mexico agreed to station up to 6,000 of its National Guard troops around the country to assist with current immigration control efforts; the majority of the troops will be deployed at the border the country shares with Guatemala, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In exchange, the US has agreed to speed up processing of asylum claims (immigration advocacy group the National Immigration Forum estimates the process currently takes between 6 months and several years). The US will also expand its “Migration Protection Protocols,” a policy under which asylum seekers are sent back to Mexico while they wait for US officials to process their asylum claims.

As Vox’s Dara Lind reported, under the policy, asylum seekers must generally wait 45 days in Mexico before being allowed to present their case in US immigration court. This policy was challenged in US court; after being overturned initially, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the policy is to be allowed. It is currently in practice, although following the appeals court ruling, House Democrats crafted legislation that would block the policy. The bill has little chance of becoming law, as it would likely be ignored in the Senate and almost certainly would not be signed by the president.

Migrants waiting have said they have experienced hardship while on the Mexican side of the border; a man waiting in Tijuana told Vox in February that his friend had been robbed and harassed by police after being returned to Mexico. Border cities have also struggled to support the growing population of waiting asylum seekers.

In a statement, the US State Department said Mexico will address these issues by ensuring waiting asylum seekers are given “jobs, health care and education according to its principles.” In addition, the US has promised to fast track distribution of $5.8 billion in funds it has set aside for addressing the problems that cause migrants to leave home to seek asylum in the first place.

While Trump claimed that the tariffs would benefit Americans economically, Vox’s Dylan Scott reported it’s quite the opposite:

The auto industry is by far the most significant casualty; America’s biggest imports from Mexico are cars and auto parts. But data processors, telephones, televisions, and even beer are also moving all the time across the border. Whether it’s a car or a Corona, Americans are going to wind up paying the price for Trump’s trade war.

Americans would have paid more for major Mexican imports — everything from crude oil to produce like dates, figs, and pineapples; economists told Scott the tariffs would force the average American family to spend an additional $900 per year.

When he announced the tariffs in late May, Trump said they would encourage companies who have left the US for Mexico to return. But economists told Vox the tariffs would have actually sent those companies packing to another country instead of to the US, and that they could have sped up manufacturers’ pivot to automation.

“I don’t think the United States is a viable location for many of the production activities that are occurring in Mexico,” Kimberly Clausing, an economist at Reed College, told Scott. “A more likely response would be offshoring to another country, or turning to automation to do those activities in a less labor-intensive way in the United States.”

That is one of the reasons Congressional Republicans came out against Trump’s tariff proposal — they said it would hurt the US economy and their constituents.

“There is not much support in my conference for tariffs, that’s for sure,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday. “Most of us hope that this Mexican delegation that’s come up here and discussed the challenges at the border ... will be fruitful, and that these tariffs will not kick in.”

Critics of the tariffs were also concerned they could impact the ratification of one of Trump’s signature goals — an overhaul of NAFTA that the president calls the United Stated-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Trump negotiated the agreement with Canadian and Mexican leaders, and it makes changes to current country of origin rules, expands intellectual property protections, and opens new markets to US farmers.

Congress has yet to sign off on the plan, and the new tariffs could have made it a tough sell in Mexico for Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“Among the indirect costs are likely to be a rejection (possibly by three legislatures) of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement,” Dan Ikenson, who leads trade studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, told Scott, “and the loss of all credibility that the United States is a reliable negotiator and trading partner.”

The plan has yet to be finalized, and it’s unclear whether the agreement will scuttle the deal. Trump, however, suggested that the US’ relationship with its southern neighbor is now back on track, tweeting praise for Obrador, writing that Mexico has now agreed to buy more produce, and claiming “Everyone very excited about the new deal with Mexico!”

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/8/18657658/mexico-tariffs-us-border-immigration-asylum-agreement

2019-06-08 14:42:43Z
52780309231204