Trump Praises Mexico's Crackdown on Migrants Crossing Into U.S.

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump praised Mexico’s efforts to crack down on migrants crossing the border into the U.S. after the two countries entered an agreement aimed at stemming the flow of people crossing Mexico from Central America.

Trump, speaking to reporters Thursday at the White House, praised Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s efforts, saying the flow of migrants has “substantially slowed down.”

“They have 6,000 Mexican troops on their southern border and it’s really been a tremendous difference,” Trump said. “We very much appreciate that Mexico is doing that, it’s going to have a big impact, it’s already had a big impact.”

Trump earlier this month dropped plans for tariffs on Mexico that he’d been threatening to impose after the country promised new steps to stop migrants headed to the U.S.

Under the immigration deal, Mexico agreed to expand deployment of its national guard throughout the country, “giving priority to its southern border,” according to a joint statement from the two countries. Asylum seekers who cross into the U.S. are to be quickly returned to Mexico to wait for their claims to be resolved; the U.S. agreed to accelerate adjudication.

To contact the reporter on this story: Josh Wingrove in Washington at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Kevin Whitelaw

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