Discretion being the better part of valor, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has become the third leader in the Western Hemisphere to meet President Donald Trump’s demands on border security.
Faced with a 25-percent tariff on Canadian exports to the United States, Trudeau said yesterday that he would invest more than $1 billion in border security and dispatch 10,000 personnel to stop drugs and illegal aliens from entering the United States.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum submitted yesterday, and last week Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who had said his country wouldn’t repatriate its illegal-alien deportees, folded under Trump’s tariff threat.
And in a related strike against the invasion of Venezuelan illegals aided and abetted by the Biden administration, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revoked Temporary Protected Status for almost 400,000.
New Fentanyl Czar
“Canada will implement their $1.3 Billion Border plan, and as per Prime Minister Trudeau, will be, ‘reinforcing the Border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social:
Nearly 10,000 frontline personnel are, and will be, working on protecting the Border. In addition, Canada is making new commitments to appoint a Fentanyl Czar, we will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the Border, launch a Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering. I have also signed a new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl, and we will be backing it with $200 million.
Thus did Trump pause the 25-percent tariff for 30 days, time needed to strike a “final economic deal” with Canada. “FAIRNESS FOR ALL!” Trump wrote.
On X, Trudeau wrote that he “had a good call” with Trump, and aside from the $1.3 billion border security spending and 10,000 border personnel, Canada will “appoint a Fentanyl Czar, we will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, [and] launch a Canada- U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering.”
Trudeau wrote that the nation will spend $200 million on a “new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl.”
The move “averted — at least for now — an economic shock that was expected to push both U.S. neighbors into recession while slowing growth and raising inflation in the United States,” The Washington Post claimed.
Trump has not said he will delay a 10-percent tariff on Chinese imports, but added that he “‘would be speaking to China, probably in the next 24 hours,’ leaving open the possibility of a third delay,” the Post reported.
Trump also said the duties on China are just the “opening salvo,” the Post continued, and Europe faces similar levies.
The producer of Rachel Maddow’s failing program claimed that “Trump folds under pressure, pauses tariffs on Mexico and Canada” because Mexico had only done what it had done before, and Canada had already announced a $1.3 billion border plan in December.
Mexico and Colombia
Be that as it may, Trump still got what he wanted: a commitment from Trudeau and 10,000 troops on the southwest border.
“We had a good conversation with President Trump with great respect for our relationship and sovereignty; we reached a series of agreements,” Sheinbaum wrote on X.
“Our teams will begin working today on two fronts: security and trade,” she said
Last week, Petro turned away planes that carried Colombian illegals for repatriation to the nation where they belonged.
After Trump threatened a 50-percent tariff, visa restriction for Colombian officials, and visa sanctions on “all Party Members, Family Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Government,” Petro delivered an unhinged rant on X.
Then he came to his senses, and said he would accept all the illegal aliens Trump wants to send home.
TPS Revoked
While securing the borders was Trump’s top priority, another will be deporting the illegals whom the Biden administration permitted to invade. Among them are some 600,000 Venezuelans, some flown directly into the country.
Noem’s predecessor, unindicted visa fraudster Alejandro Mayorkas, had granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in 2021, then repeatedly extended it, for the Venezuelans. Supposedly, it was unsafe for them to return home. Now, more than half of them must leave the United States voluntarily or be deported.
That likely wasn’t true, but in any event that no longer matters.
“After reviewing country conditions and considering whether permitting Venezuelan nationals covered by the 2023 designation is contrary to the national interest of the United States, in consultation with the appropriate U.S. Government agencies, the Secretary of Homeland Security has determined that Venezuela no longer continues to meet the conditions for the 2023 Designation,” the order says:
In particular, the Secretary has determined it is contrary to the national interest to permit the covered Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States.
The order says “notable improvements in several areas such as the economy, public health, and crime … allow for these nationals to be safely returned to their home country.”
But even if those conditions had not improved, the secretary can terminate TPS “because it is contrary to the national interest to permit the Venezuelan nationals (or aliens having no nationality who last habitually resided in Venezuela) to remain temporarily in the United States,” the order says.
Indeed, “Congress expressly prohibits the Secretary from designating a country for TPS or extending a TPS designation if she finds that “permitting the aliens to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to the national interest of the United States.”
TPS ends for 348,202 illegal Venezuelans in 60 days.
