Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued glowing praise to President Trump for reaching a deal with Mexico amidst pending tariff threats and predicted the mainstream media’s struggle to process the significant political victory.
Trump reached an immigration reform agreement with Mexico Friday evening. The deal essentially ends catch-and-release, having Mexico offering migrants jobs and health care while they wait for their asylum claims to be heard in the U.S.
“Those [migrants] crossing the U.S. Southern Border to seek asylum will be rapidly returned to Mexico where they may await the adjudication of their [US.] asylum claims,” the State Department said in the joint declaration.
In response, Mexico will authorize the entrance of all of those individuals for humanitarian reasons, in compliance with its international obligations, while they await the adjudication of their asylum claims. Mexico will also offer jobs, healthcare, and education according to its principles.
Rubio issued glowing praise of Trump’s victory and predicted the mainstream media’s struggle to give the president credit.
“The threat of tariffs got #Mexico to agree to take unprecedented steps to control illegal migration,” Rubio tweeted. “Will be very interesting to see how media covers this now. It is going to be very hard for some of them to give @POTUS credit for this.”
The threat of tariffs got #Mexico to agree to take unprecedented steps to control illegal migration.
Will be very interesting to see how media covers this now. It is going to be very hard for some of them to give @POTUS credit for this. https://t.co/XmKMrSH5gU via @NYTimes
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 8, 2019
His prediction quickly came to fruition. Shortly after, the Florida senator tweeted an excerpt from Politico’s coverage. Politico reported that Trump on Friday “dropped his unpopular plan to impose tariffs on hundreds of billion of dollars of goods from Mexico,” almost presenting the news as a political cave and virtually ignoring the economic pressure’s role in reaching a deal.
A good example of how hard it will be for some in media to be fair in covering deal with #Mexico
This story opens with “Trump dropped his unpopular plan to impose tariffs after deal was reached” as if the tariffs had nothing to do with getting the deal https://t.co/0vnZScYtQw
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 8, 2019
Rubio also released a statement:
By using all the tools available to him under U.S. law, President Trump has advanced the protection of our national security interests.
While I generally do not support imposing tariffs, except in cases of legitimate violations of U.S. trade law, Mexico’s lack of commitment when it comes to addressing the unsustainable and dangerous migratory crisis at our Southern Border has left this administration no other choice.
Rubio again credited the victory to Trump’s relentless pressure and demands for “decisive action.”
“By exerting maximum pressure and demanding decisive action from the López Obrador administration, President Trump has secured an important victory on behalf of the American people,” the statement added.