Trump, Who Announced 'Mass Deportation of Immigrants,' Ignores Requests for Dialogue from Affected Countries

NYT: Central American Governments Requested Talks, but Were Refused

The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has announced the largest-scale deportation of illegal immigrants in history, is reportedly ignoring requests for dialogue from the countries involved.

According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 17th (local time), governments of Central American countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras requested talks with Trump's transition team regarding immigration deportation policies but were refused, according to officials from those countries.

AP Yonhap News

According to a Mexican government official and multiple sources, Trump's transition team rejected Mexico's official request for a meeting, stating that detailed discussions related to immigration deportation policies would only begin after Trump is inaugurated on the 20th. Officials from Guatemala and Honduras also explained that their governments received similar responses from the Trump team.

Considering that it is common for a president-elect of the United States to engage in informal channels of communication with related countries about major campaign promises even before inauguration, this is regarded as an unusual move. Eric L. Olson, a senior researcher in Latin America at the Wilson Center, a U.S. think tank, said, "This is not generally how things proceed," adding, "Usually by this time, there are more informal contacts and some level of discussion."

There is also speculation that rejecting dialogue requests from Central American countries sensitive to immigration issues is a strategy to increase their anxiety and thereby strengthen negotiating power later. Experts interpret that the incoming Trump administration may want to block talks with related countries until it signs an executive order for large-scale immigrant deportations and intensifies pressure, forcing those countries to hasten their responses.

With the unpredictability of how deportations will be carried out, Central American countries are struggling to prepare. When asked how they are preparing for Trump’s large-scale deportation plan, the spokesperson for the Guatemalan president said, "At this time, we have not had specific discussions with the next (U.S.) administration regarding immigration policy, so we cannot talk about concrete measures."