Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Speaking of Disaster in Texas and the Border Wall

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday the state is accepting Mexico's offer to help get Texas back on its feet in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

[...]

Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, the consul general in Austin, applauded the governor's decision. He said assistance of vehicles, boats and food will start arriving in Texas within days.

[...]

"Texas and Mexico share more than half the border," [Carlos Sada, Mexico's undersecretary for North American relations] said. "There are families, marriages, businesses that bind our two sides. This is about being good neighbors."

[...]

In Washington, following a meeting at the State Department, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson thanked Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray Caso for its "wide range of assistance."

"It was very generous of Mexico to offer their help at a very, very challenging time for our citizens back in Texas," he said.

[...]

Mexico, in a diplomatic note Tuesday, provided a long list of items that includes troops, convoys of food, medicine, portable showers and water.

  Dallas News
Will there be some crow for Trump?
President Donald Trump has not responded publicly to Mexico's aid, though on Tuesday he accepted an offer from Singapore to lend four of its CH-47 Chinook helicopters for rescue efforts.
BUILD THAT WALL!
On Sunday, as waters rose across southeast Texas, Mexico reached out to Texas. Trump, meanwhile, bullied Mexico on Twitter to pay for his promised border wall. On Monday, he repeated his threat the the U.S. would at some point kill NAFTA.

[...]

"Mexico's desire to be humane at a time of such great need contrasts the character and the churlishness coming out of Washington, D.C., and NAFTA," said Tony Garza, a prominent Republican and former U.S. ambassador and now legal counsel with White & Case in Mexico City.

[...]

The recently signed SB4 is scheduled to go into effect Friday, barring its possible overturning this week by a federal judge. SB4 effectively outlaws sanctuary cities — places where local law enforcement limits or refuses cooperation with federal immigration agents — and gives police the right to ask the immigration status of people they detain. Mexico's vast immigrant population would be affected.
And if they use Harvey as an excuse to entrap Mexicans displaced or stranded by the floods, there is going to be Hell to pay.
Texas's biggest cities — Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin — and other local entities have filed a lawsuit against SB4, and activists remain hopeful that U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia will rule the law unconstitutional this week in response.

[...]

Texas leads a group of 10 states pressuring the Trump administration to end DACA, and in recent days Trump has signaled he may do so.
Shame on Texas.  And shame on Trump.
"Yes, we know [...] , but our decision, our willingness to help Texas isn't based on politics," Sada said. "This is a spontaneous reaction to a neighbor in need, and we, based on our own experiences with natural disasters, know recovery periods can take months, years. So we're here with one message: Texas, Mexico is ready to help."
Just like they always do.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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