What is Trump’s ‘secret’ Mexico migrant plan?
US president accidentally reveals details of deal by waving White House document at journalists

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?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Critics' choice: Steak houses that break from tradition
Feature Eight hours of slow-roasting prime rib, a 41-ounce steak, and a former Catholic school chapel turned steakhouse
-
Tash Aw's 6 favorite books about forbidden love
Feature The Malaysian novelist recommends works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and more
-
France and Indonesia promote a contentious bid for an Israel-Palestine two-state solution
Talking Points Both countries have said a two-state solution is the way to end the Middle East conflict
-
Deportations: Miller's threat to the courts
Feature The Trump administration is considering suspending habeas corpus to speed up deportations without due process
-
Asylum: Only white Afrikaners need apply
Feature Trump welcomes white Afrikaner farmers while shutting down the asylum program for non-white refugees
-
Trump pauses all new foreign student visas
speed read The State Department has stopped scheduling interviews with those seeking student visas in preparation for scrutiny of applicants' social media
-
Law: The battle over birthright citizenship
Feature Trump shifts his focus to nationwide injunctions after federal judges block his attempt to end birthright citizenship
-
The threat to the NIH
Feature The Trump administration plans drastic cuts to medical research. What are the ramifications?
-
Courts try to check administration on deportations
Feature The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to end protected status for Venezuelans, but blocks deportations under the Alien Enemies Act
-
House GOP pushes ahead on deficit-boosting tax bill
Feature Republicans push a bill that will lock in Trump's tax cuts, cut Medicaid and add trillions to the national debt
-
'Gen Z has been priced out of a future, so we invest in the present'
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day