After Democrats said the US president agreed to a plan to protect "Dreamers," Trump denied a deal had ever been made. But the US president has suggested that an agreement could be just around the corner.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS.com/N. C. Cepeda
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that while no deal had been reached during their meeting with Trump on Wednesday, all those in attendance agreed to protect "Dreamers."
"No deal was made last night ... Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Would be subject to vote," Trump said in a tweet. "The Wall (on the US-Mexico border), which is already under construction in the form of new renovation of old and existing fences and walls, will continue to be built."
Confusion arose about the meeting between Trump and Democratic leaders after Schumer and Pelosi said Wednesday they struck a deal with the US president to protect thousands of young immigrants from deportation. However, the US president denied the existence of an outright accord early Thursday morning.
Unknown fate
Trump horrified many young immigrants last week when he announced his decision to repeal the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA protected nearly 800,000 immigrants, known as "Dreamers," brought illegally to the US as children from deportation as long as they had no criminal record and had completed high school.
The president said he was ending the program, which was highly popular with both Democrats and Republicans, in order to give Congress six months to craft immigration legislation replacing Obama's 2012 executive order. The move prompted protests across the nation, with so-called "Dreamers" vowing to stay.
DACA immigrants: We're staying
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'Excluding the wall'
Schumer and Pelosi released a joint statement on Wednesday evening after meeting with President Trump at the White House.
"We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that's acceptable to both sides," the Democratic leaders said.
According to the statement, the agreement would also see increased security at the US-Mexico border, though it does not include funding for Trump's sought-after border wall.
"This is a positive step toward the president's strong commitment to bipartisan solutions for the issues most important to all Americans."
US lawmakers, companies and rights groups criticized his decision to end DACA, with Human Rights Watch accusing him of holding the young immigrants "hostage."
ls,es/kms (AP, Reuters)
Central American immigrants turn to Mexico
Most migrants to the United States from the so-called "Northern Triangle" of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are staying in Mexico for now — because of Donald Trump's new immigration policies.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
No longer first choice
In a migrant shelter in the southern Mexican city of Tenosique, near the Guatemalan border, a refugee from Honduras says he originally planned to move to the United States with his family. Trump's election has changed everything. "I wanted to go to the United States with my family, but we've seen that the new government there has made things harder."
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Lingering in Mexico
Concepcion Bautista from Guatemala cradles her newborn son in the same migrant shelter. She says she plans to head for the United States, but will linger in Mexico to see how US President Donald Trump's immigration policies play out. Her goal is to reunite with her family up north...
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
A mere transit country?
…but for the time being, she believes applying for asylum in Mexico is a smarter move. Mexican asylum data and testimony from migrants in Tenosique suggest that although fewer Central Americans are trying to enter the US, plenty are still fleeing their poor, violent home countries, with many deciding to stay longer in Mexico, which has traditionally been a transit country.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Tough immigration policies
The Trump administration has pointed out a sharp decline in immigrant detentions in the first few months of this year as a vindication for the president's tough immigration policies. The measures are already having another effect. In California, where farmers usually rely on workers from Mexico to bring in the harvest, many Mexicans are staying away, preferring to find work in their own country.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Asylum applications on the rise
Migrants from Central America play football in the migrant shelter in Tenosique. The number of people applying for asylum in Mexico has soared by more than 150 percent since Trump was elected president. These days, Mexican immigrants would rather set up in Canada than the United States.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Human smugglers up the price
One man from Guatemala says the prices charged by people smugglers have risen sharply since Trump took office, now hovering around $10,000 (9,100 euros), up from about $6,000 a few years ago. Migrants sit below a mural in Mexico with the words: "Our demand is minimal: justice."
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
A new home
With Mexico's immigration authorities controlling migration more assiduously, Central Americans were forced to take more isolated, dangerous routes where the chances of being mugged were higher. "We've gone north several times, but every time it's got harder," says one man, who was deported from the United States in December. "Now, it's better if we travel alone, along new routes."
