Trump Pivots From Closing Southern Border to Threatening Mexican Auto Tariffs in 1 Year
NBC: Abandoning his threat to immediately seal the southern border, President Donald Trump warned instead on Thursday that he’d slap tariffs on cars coming to the U.S. from Mexico unless the Mexicans do more to stop the flow of migrants and drugs to the U.S.
In his latest backtrack in recent days, Trump told reporters he would try the “less drastic measure” before resorting to his standing border-closure threat.
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San Diego, Interrupted: Trump’s Threats To Close The Border Slow Cross-Border Trade
PBS: President Trump’s threats to close the border have slowed cross-border commerce at the country’s busiest port of entry, despite his comments Thursday indicating he intended to give Mexico a year to stop the flow of migrants to the U.S.
Local business leaders fear the effect could be long-term.
“It’s actually worse to have this threat renewed for a year versus resolving it now,” said Paola Avila, vice president of international business affairs for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. “I consider it very detrimental.”
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Trump Administration Wants 2 Years to Identify Children Separated From Parents at Border
TIME: The Trump administration wants up to two years to find potentially thousands of children who were separated from their families at the border before a judge halted the practice last year, a task that it says is more laborious than previous efforts because the children are no longer in government custody.
The Justice Department said in a court filing late Friday that it will take at least a year to review about 47,000 cases of unaccompanied children taken into government custody between July 1, 2017 and June 25, 2018 — the day before U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw halted the general practice of splitting families. The administration would begin by sifting through names for traits most likely to signal separation — for example, children under 5.
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Family Separation Has Scarred These Kids For Life
HUFFINGTON POST: One day after school in late March, 7-year-old Matías twisted colorful pipe cleaners into the shape of handcuffs. He slid the sparkly blue and bright-green circles over his small wrists and held them out proudly, as his mom, Victoria, watched silently from the door of their small bedroom.
“They grabbed my mom,” Matías said in a quiet voice, referring to immigration officials who shackled his mother. “Both her legs and her hands.”
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Trump ‘shooting himself in the foot’ with border threats: business leader
MEXICO DAILY NEWS: United States President Donald Trump is “shooting himself in the foot” by threatening to close the border with Mexico, according to the president of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE).
Carlos Salazar Lomelín said the only thing Trump achieves by making such threats is to slow down cross-border trade, which generates economic losses for both Mexico and the United States.
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Tension And Anxiety In Border Cities After Trump Threatens Closure
NPR: President Trump has backed off his threats to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border. But uncertainty and disruptions along the border have created anxiety for many residents.
Hundreds of Customs and Border Protection officials have been reassigned from their usual posts at ports of entry, to help with the migrant families crossing the border in growing numbers. That’s led to longer and more unpredictable wait times at the international bridges, and mounting stress for everyone from business owners to university students.
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At Latino business summit, access to capital and border trade are priorities
NBC NEWS: Even though Latino-owned businesses are a fast-growing sector of the U.S. economy — contributing more than $700 billion annually — ongoing obstacles include access to capital and reliable lenders.
Latino business owners and entrepreneurs who gathered in the nation’s capital for a business legislative summit sought answers on those issues as well as reassurances that trade at the U.S.-Mexico border will continue.
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Trump’s Border Threats Snarl Truck Traffic
BLOOMBERG: It’s become a complete mess for trucks hauling goods from Mexico to the U.S., snarling transport at some of the busiest border crossings in the world.
A week of heated threats from Donald Trump to close the border means Mexican companies are rushing to send as much cargo into the U.S. as they can, in case of a shutdown that would limit trade. Meanwhile, as many as 750 U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers were reassigned to border patrol sectors in late March, crimping the staffing needed to allow for the flow of goods from south to north.
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