What is Trump’s ‘secret’ Mexico migrant plan?

Donald Trump became the latest in a long line of politicians to underestimate the resolution of digital cameras yesterday when he was photographed waving a “secret” document outlining plans for an immigration agreement with Mexico.

The president told White House reporters that details of his “deal” to stop would-be migrants from reaching the US were “secret”, but failed to realise that photographs of the sheet of paper he was holding would reveal details of what has been agreed.

So what did the document say?

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By combining images taken by photographers from several different media outlets, The Washington Post reconstructs the document as follows:

“[UNREADABLE] such agreement would [UNREADABLE] party’s domestic and international legal obligations, a commitment under which each party would accept the return, and process refugee status claims, of third-party nationals who have crossed that party’s territory [UNREADABLE] other party. The parties further intend [UNREADABLE] an agreem[ent] [UNREADABLE] to burden-sharing in relation to the processing of refuge[es] [UNREADABLE].

“Mexico also commits to immediate[ly] [UNREADABLE] domestic laws and regulations with a view to identifying any changes that [UNREADABLE] to bring into force and implement such an agreement.

“If the United States determines, at its discretion and after consultation with Mexico, after 45 calendar days from the date of the issuance of the Joint Declaration, that the measures adopted by the Government of Mexico pursuant to the Joint Declaration have not sufficiently achieved results in addressing the flow of migrants to the southern border of the United States, the Government of Mexico will take all necessary steps under the domestic law to bring the agreement into force with a view to ensuring that the agreement will enter into force within 45 days.”

Was the information really secret?

Trump said it was – but according to The Guardian, “Mexican officials had revealed much of it” already. What does seem to be new is that Mexico could be designated as a “safe third country” by the US for immigration purposes.

What does ‘safe third country’ mean?

It would mean Mexico would allow citizens from other nations to stay in Mexico while they waited for the US to process their applications to enter. Mexico had “long rejected” demands by the US that it accept this status, says The Guardian.

What has been agreed so far?

The two nations signed a pact last week in which Mexico agreed to control movement across its southern border with Guatemala, after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Mexican goods. Mexico agreed to send up to 6,000 national guard troops to the border.

Why do political papers keep getting papped?

Private or secret documents have been photographed and inadvertently made public many times since digital cameras with powerful sensors became widespread. Indeed, the problem has become so prevalent that “warning notices have been stuck inside the door at No. 10, and the doorman occasionally reminds visitors to hide papers as they’re leaving” , The Guardian reported back in 2016.

However, such leaks have happened so often that commentators have asked whether politicians and others sometimes deliberately expose documents they want made public.