Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Monday refused to credit President Trump for reaching a deal to get Mexico to stop illegal immigration.
Schumer called the accord “nothing more than warmed-up leftovers,” and said Trump had simply backed down on a threat to impose new tariffs on Mexican imports because that is how he normally operates.
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“The president stakes out a maximalist position but never clearly defines his objectives,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
“That way, after he backs himself into a corner, he can use a deal of any kind, even if it’s merely a fig leaf, to justify retreating from whatever misguided policy he’s threatened,” Schumer continued. “Then he declares victory, having done little or nothing to solve the problem.”
Schumer cited news reports claiming Mexico denies having signed a deal with Trump to rein in illegal immigration through Mexico from Central America.
“It’s amazing how this president will just make stuff up,” Schumer said. “He just makes it up and then it’s refuted.”
Trump said the deal with Mexico “will be revealed in the not too distant future.”
Trump criticized a New York Times story reporting there is no signed deal to make any new changes to Mexico’s policy for dealing with the migrants, who are approaching the U.S. border at numbers topping 100,000 per month.
Mexico has agreed to do more to stop the flow of migrants by following a previously negotiated deal with the United States. But any change to asylum laws that the United States is seeking would have to be approved by the Mexican Senate, according to the Times story.
“The agreement that President Trump reached with Mexico contains policies negotiated months ago,” Schumer said. “Nothing more than warmed-up leftovers.”
