Defending the immigration deal the United States reached with Mexico, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Monday termed the agreement as a "significant win" for Washington and reflects "diplomacy at its finest."
"Frankly, it reflects diplomacy at its finest. It shows the enduring strength, too, of the relationship between our two countries. It's a significant win for the American people," Pompeo told reporters at a press briefing.
Reiterating US' stand on tough immigration, Pompeo said that migrants who crossed the southern border would be "rapidly returned" to Mexico and Washington will now have the "full-throttle" capacity to send asylum seekers back to Mexico.
"Those crossing the US southern border to seek asylum will be rapidly returned to Mexico where they may await the adjudication of their asylum claims. We've seen this before. We were able to do this to the tune of a couple of hundred people per day," he said.
"We now have the capacity to do this full throttle and engage this in a way that will make a fundamental difference in the calculus for those deciding to transit Mexico to try to get into the United States," Pompeo added.
Talking about the immigration deal, the Secretary of State asserted that it underlined US' commitment to tackle illegal immigration at the southern border.
"The deal continues the Trump administration's commitment - the strongest by any administration in history - to confront the tide of illegal immigration and many other problems along our southern border, including the drug trafficking issues that transit there. The President is doing precisely what he said he would do," he said.
Pompeo said, "We agreed to a number of things, including the placement of 6,000 Mexican National Guard along the Mexican southern border. It's the biggest effort to date that the Mexicans have committed. It's something that we pressed for with them throughout the time of the negotiations."
He said that both the US and Mexico will work closely to make the deal successful.
On June 7, President Donald Trump had announced that his administration reached an agreement with Mexico over immigration, owing to which tariffs on the Central American country were "indefinitely suspended," after days of gruelling negotiations between the two sides.
According to the deal, Mexico has agreed to strengthen its security presence at the southern border to stop the flow of Central American migrants from entering the US and boost intelligence sharing with Washington.
Mexico has also said that it would take stringent action against human and drug trafficking rings.
Trump had threatened to impose a five per cent tariff on all Mexican goods from June 10, which would increase by another five per cent every month and ultimately reach 25 per cent by October.
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