Will DHS Policy Deepen Rift With Mexico?

Melvin Félix, Univision, Mar. 9, 2017 - "The Trump administration intends to press forward with its plan to send immigrants of any nationality back to Mexico after they're caught illegally crossing the southern U.S. border, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to Univision. The proposed U.S. policy was outlined in an enforcement memo sent out by secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly on February 20, but it was put into question two days later when Kelly said during a press conference that he'd been given the mission to "return (undocumented immigrants) to their country of origin as fast as possible." The comment, made during the secretary's first official visit to Guatemala, should not be read as "a policy shift," said a DHS spokesperson in an email this week, because the new policy would not affect immigrants who have final deportation orders. "Illegal aliens with a final order of removal are returned to their home countries", said the spokesman, David Lapan, to Univision. "Some of those without a final order, who entered the U.S. through Mexico and who wish to appeal or seek relief through our immigration courts, could be sent to Mexico pending disposition of their case." The new U.S. enforcement policy regarding non-Mexicans could deepen the diplomatic rift between the Trump administration and the Mexican government, which has repeatedly stated that it will not accept "unilateral" immigration measures that do not align with its own national interests."