Trump threatens Guatemala after its court blocks asylum deal
Source: Washington Post
President Donald Trump is threatening Guatemala over immigration after its high court blocked its government from signing an asylum deal with the United States.
Trump tweeted Tuesday that Guatemala has decided against signing a safe-third agreement requiring Central American migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. to instead apply for those protections in Guatemala even though Guatemalas government had said it did not intend to make such a deal.
Guatemalas top court recently blocked the government from signing an agreement.
Trump says hell now look at targeting the money Guatemalans working in the U.S. send back to their country or at imposing tariffs as punishment.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-threatens-guatemala-after-its-court-blocks-asylum-deal/2019/07/23/1cf5192c-ad51-11e9-9411-a608f9d0c2d3_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.957c2cd07dac
Doodley
(9,130 posts)murielm99
(30,765 posts)over the weekend. They had a very intelligent government official explain why they did not like trump's plan. He explained how it jeopardized their security and finances.
It made perfect sense to me. I wish we had someone equally intelligent in our government to speak for us. Maybe we will have that again when we get rid of trump.
justgamma
(3,667 posts)sign an agreement with this administration. They have already shown that they will pull out of them anytime for any reason.
RussBLib
(9,036 posts)I hope I'm joking. We have meddled so much in Central American politics, why should they trust the U.S. at all?
KPN
(15,650 posts)riversedge
(70,306 posts)What the heck does Trump mean by this????
.............Trump says hell now look at targeting the money Guatemalans working in the U.S. send back to their country or at imposing tariffs as punishment.
christx30
(6,241 posts)put a fee at point of sale for any Western Union Moneygrams going south of the US border, and use the money for his dumbassed wall. So to send $500, the person on the US side would have to fork over $575.
Mexico received almost $30 billion in remittances in 2017. So if trump could do this, itd net a huge amount.
Everyman Jackal
(271 posts)I would hope that another country like Canada would step up and have all the money sent by people in the US who are sending money South would send it North and then Canada would send it South free of charge. Is it even legal to charge these people if they are not sending it South for nefarious reasons?
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)where ANY overseas transfer of money through Western Union, etc. would have "withholding" taken out of it, and then the sender gets to claim that as taxes withheld at tax filing time. If the money is made by someone here legally, and being sent to a family member overseas, then they'd get credit for the money when it comes time to settle up with the IRS. If it's been made by someone using a fake SSN, then they'd lose it.
It may be able to be set up by executive order. If so, I'm surprised that Trump hasn't tried it yet.
Igel
(35,359 posts)Guatemala's GDP was around $78.5 billion in 2018. So almost 12% of its GDP was from remittances. Cut it off, and the GDP plummets by 12%.
Withholding $300 million in development aid to the Triangle countries is chump change.
Bayard
(22,154 posts)Or just slither.
ripcord
(5,537 posts)As long as fleeing street gangs and violent crime aren't considered valid reasons for asylum claims the overwhelming majority of Central Americans will not qualify.
TryLogic
(1,723 posts)I hope many American voters are aware of this.
PatSeg
(47,603 posts)or countries, threaten and bully them. He never tries to negotiate and certainly wouldn't dream of compromise. It is his way or the highway and even when he gets his way, he might still follow up with some form of punishment.