The Trump administration had taken steps in recent weeks to work with Democratic and Republican lawmakers to address concerns about the proposed United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement — and then came the threat of a new tariff.

President Donald Trump said this past week that he would put a 5% tariff on Mexican imports unless America’s southern neighbor cracked down on Central American migrants’ efforts to cross the U.S. border.  

  

His recent decision to remove U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico had appeased mostly Republicans who were using their trade votes as leverage to do away with those penalties. 

 

The administration also had committed to meeting with a group of House Democrats to allay their concerns. That gesture created goodwill, and as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., described it, put Democrats “on a path to yes.” 

 

Now it’s unclear where that path may lead. 

​Jobs at stake

 

Influential business groups fear that Trump’s threat against Mexico could derail the proposed trade agreement. 

 

“The last thing we want to do is put that landmark deal — and the 2 million manufacturing jobs that depend on North American trade — in jeopardy,” said Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers. 

 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it was considering legal action to block the tariffs from going into effect.  

  

Some GOP senators are rankled, too, most notably Charles Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. 

 

“This is a misuse of presidential tariff authority and counter to congressional intent,” Grassley said. 

 

Congressional aides from both parties said that it’s too soon to say whether Trump’s proposal will derail the agreement. But it does make it harder for lawmakers to assess how the agreement would improve the economic landscape if the tariffs on Mexico go into place.  

  

Democrats seem mostly concerned with other breaking developments. 

 

Hours before Trump announced his tariff plan, his administration tried to set up the agreement for a possible congressional vote before the August recess. The administration completed the formal steps necessary to start the clock for submitting legislation to Congress.   

​Not ‘positive’

  

Pelosi said that was not a positive step'' andindicates a lack of knowledge on the part of the administration on the policy and process to pass a trade agreement.” 

 

Democrats want to strengthen enforcement of labor and environmental standards in Mexico.  They have pushed for Mexico to change labor laws that have encouraged wages as low as $1 or $2 per hour at some plants, giving U.S. companies a strong incentive to move operations south of the U.S.-Mexico border. 

 

Mexico lawmakers have approved a law that requires secret-ballot union votes and proof of workers’ consent for contracts. Democrats in Washington want to ensure follow-through, and Pelosi still holds the final say in determining when, or whether, the agreement comes up for a vote. 

 

Pelosi also joined several Republican senators in slamming Trump’s tariff threat, saying it is “not rooted in wise trade policy but has more to do with bad immigration policy on his part.” 

 

“Yet again, the president is sowing chaos over the border instead of delivering solutions for American workers and for American consumers,” Pelosi said. 

 

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said the tariffs should not jeopardize passage of the trade pact and that the president simply wants Mexico to do more to stem the flow of migrants. 

 

She said the White House is confident it would pass the Democratic-run House, if Pelosi put it to a vote. 

​Investors unhappy

 

Trump said he had the authority to impose a 5 percent levy on all goods imported from Mexico and pledged to increase those duties to as high as 25 percent if Mexico did not dramatically reduce the number of migrants crossing the border. 

 

Investors have responded negatively, with the Dow Jones industrial average closing Friday down roughly 355 points, or 1.4%. 

 

Still, Conway told reporters that “tariffs are a good way to get a trading partner’s attention, and apparently it did.” 

 

Mexico’s foreign relations secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, announced that he and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would lead talks Wednesday in Washington, a move seen as potentially easing tensions and avoiding retaliatory tariffs.  

  

Both Mexico and Canada are moving ahead with steps toward ratifying the trade agreement. 

 

Canada’s foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, indicated that it’s up to the U.S. and Mexico to work out their dispute. “This is a bilateral issue,” she said. 
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Immigrant advocates say the U.S. government is allowing migrant children at a Florida facility to languish in “prisonlike conditions” after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border instead of releasing them promptly to family as required by federal rules.

A court filing Friday revealed conditions inside the Homestead, Florida, facility that has become the nation’s biggest location for detaining immigrant children. A decades-old settlement governing the care of detained immigrant children calls for them to be released to family members, sponsors or other locations within 20 days, but the court filing accuses the government of keeping kids there for months in some cases.

The children detained at the facility said they longed to be released to their parents and other relatives in the United States and were allowed limited phone calls to loved ones. Some were also told to heed strict rules or it could prolong their detention or get them deported.

​Volunteers interview dozens of children

“At Homestead, children are housed in prisonlike conditions and unnecessarily incarcerated for up to several months without being determined to be flight risks or a danger to themselves or others,” said the motion filed by the National Center for Youth Law and other organizations in federal court in Los Angeles.

Dozens of volunteer lawyers, interpreters and other legal workers interviewed more than 70 child migrants at Homestead during several visits over the past year. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services does not allow news media to speak to children at guided tours of the facility.

A Honduran boy described arriving with an aunt at the Mexico border in December. She was deported and he was sent to Homestead, where he told attorneys he had been held for four months. He could speak to his mother in Honduras twice a week while waiting to be placed with another aunt in Virginia. He was punched in the face by a boy at the facility but said he didn’t see a doctor or tell his mother, out of fear she would worry more.

“Already it is very hard. We both cry on the phone,” he told attorneys. “I have not seen my mom or any family for so long.”

​Housing for thousands

The children’s allegations come as officials struggle to accommodate increasing numbers of minors illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The Homestead facility, run by a private contractor, houses 2,200 minors and is expanding to add hundreds of beds.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to requests for comment. The private contractor, Comprehensive Health Services, declined comment.

Many of the children are fleeing gang and domestic violence and will end up seeking asylum. Most are sent to live with sponsors once they are screened by the U.S. government, usually aunts or uncles or other relatives who are in the U.S.

Children’s testimonials

The court filing included testimonials from more than a dozen children who had been separated from parents last year before the Trump administration ended a policy that led to more than 2,700 children being taken from families. Others, who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in the past few months, came alone or with relatives such as aunts, uncles, and siblings and were also separated and placed in government custody.

The Trump administration has long complained about the 1997 settlement, which generally means the government should release children in about 20 days.

The names of the children were redacted, but they testified being there for weeks, or months, without knowing when they would be released. A girl told attorneys she and her sister were at the same facility but kept in separate areas and only allowed to see each other once a week.

A 14-year-old boy from Honduras said he had problems videoconferencing with the social worker handling his reunification on two separate occasions, as the company began hiring clinicians and case managers to work long-distance.

“Sometimes there are problems with the internet, and I have to cut my call short or not talk to her at all and return another time,” he told attorneys.

A Guatemalan girl said she didn’t speak any Spanish, only her native Maya language of Q’eqchi, when she arrived, and she had trouble understanding her social worker.

Families separated

In the same filings, a federal field specialist for the U.S. government’s Office of Refugee Resettlement said the goal is “safe, timely release” but there can be delays, for example, when sponsors can’t read and write. And when there’s no proof of a prior relationship, the sponsor is automatically disqualified, the specialist said, adding “the bottom line is always safety.”

In several occasions, children were flown from Florida to Texas locations promising they would be reunited with a parent, only to be flown back and booked again into the facility.

A Guatemalan child expressed willingness to leave the U.S. voluntarily only to be told that a legal department would need to get involved.

“It is hard for me to understand what is preventing me from joining my family,” the child said.

A Salvadoran boy who said he left his country in January fleeing violence said children at the facility can’t touch anyone or fight or they could get a report that will delay their case. He told lawyers that staff told them they would be deported if they tried to escape. He said he couldn’t speak with his parents on his 17th birthday since he had already used one of his twice weekly 10-minute phone calls the day before.

“I miss them, and even though today is my birthday, it is hard because they can’t call me and I can’t call them,” he said.
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