WEST WING MHI Daily Brief ;

President Trump Signs NAFTA Replacement Deal with Mexico, Canada Earlier this morning, President Donald J. Trump signed a three-way trade deal with Mexico and Canada that will replace the outdated NAFTA if it is approved by Congress. “Trump signed the U.S. Mexico Canada trade agreement in Argentina on the side of the G-20 summit,” Pete Kasperowicz reports in the Washington Examiner. “This is a model agreement that changes the trade landscape forever, and this is an agreement that first and foremost benefits working people, something of great importance to all three of us here today,” the President said.”Thank you for your close partnership throughout this process,” he said to Mexican Prime Minister Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin praised the deal as one that would rebalance trade in North America.”Today’s signing marks a critical step in modernizing and rebalancing North American trade,” he said. “The new agreement secures strong outcomes for farmers, ranchers, businesses, and workers across North America, including in areas such as auto manufacturing and intellectual property.” Among other things, the deal encourages more manufacturing in North America, a step Trump has said would help retain and create jobs in America. Vice President Mike Pence also praised it as a campaign promise kept. The deal won’t be finalized, however, until the legislatures of each country approves the deal. It’s not yet clear that the Democratic-led House will accept the deal when it convenes next year. But Trump said he was confident the deal would go through.”I look forward to working with members of Congress and the USMCA partners, and I have to say, it’s been so well-reviewed, I don’t expect to have very much of a problem, to ensure the complete implementation of our agreement,” he said.

The Trump Administration Is Taking Bold Action To Combat The Evil Of Human Trafficking “The International Labor Organization estimates that worldwide, nearly 25 million children and adults of all ages and backgrounds are victims of human trafficking, including forced labor and sex trafficking. Every government in the world has a moral obligation to do all in its power to stop these heinous crimes within its borders,” Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump writes in The Washington Post. “That is why President Trump took strong action on Thursday to hold accountable those governments that have persistently failed to meet the minimum standards for combating human trafficking in their countries.” Specifically, the president will limit the number of national-interest waivers and restrict certain types of foreign assistance for nearly two dozen governments of countries identified as “Tier 3” by the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report. The report, the world’s most comprehensive resource for governmental anti-trafficking efforts, places each country in tiers to highlight best practices and urge greater action to combat human trafficking. Tier 3 countries are those that have neither met the minimum standards nor made a significant effort to adequately identify and protect trafficking victims, punish the traffickers or prevent human trafficking. The United States is an extraordinarily generous nation, but this administration will no longer use taxpayer dollars to support governments that consistently fail to address trafficking. The most urgent types of assistance to these countries will continue, including humanitarian aid and lifesaving global health programs such as HIV treatment and Ebola preparedness and response. But the new restrictions will hold these governments accountable while providing further incentive for them to live up to their responsibility to end this scourge. The United States will encourage Tier 3 countries to step up efforts to eliminate human trafficking, including the establishment of new laws and national action plans. The president’s directive is the latest in an administration-wide push — including diplomatic, financial, educational, intelligence and law enforcement efforts — to confront this evil. In his first month in office, the president said he was “prepared to bring the full force and weight of our government” to end human trafficking, and he signed an executive order directing federal law enforcement to prioritize dismantling the criminal organizations behind forced labor, sex trafficking, involuntary servitude and child exploitation. Following the president’s directive, the Justice Department secured a record 499 human trafficking convictions in fiscal 2017, a 14 percent increase over the previous year. The director of national intelligence elevated human trafficking to a top priority for the U.S. intelligence community. Despite a deeply polarized political climate, the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act-Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act championed by the White House gained strong bipartisan support on Capitol Hill this year, and in April, the president signed into law this landmark legislation to fight online sex trafficking. Finally, the Trump administration, in collaboration with the resilient survivors who serve on the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking , is prioritizing efforts to ensure law enforcement, immigration authorities and customs officials have the training and resources to identify victims of trafficking at U.S. ports of entry and in local communities. President Abraham Lincoln and the abolitionist movement gave America a unique inheritance: a principled commitment to fight slavery in all its pernicious forms. This administration is continuing the fight to end modern slavery and using every tool at its disposal to achieve that critical goal.

Jared Kushner receives Mexico’s highest honor awarded to non-Mexicans “Son-in-law and senior adviser to the president Jared Kushner received Mexico’s highest honor awarded to foreigners on Friday. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto bestowed the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle to Kushner in a ceremony that President Trump made an unscheduled stop at Friday morning,” Katelyn Caralle reports in the Washington Examiner.“Through your direction and leadership we were able to accomplish a lot of great things,” Kushner said to Trump, who was in the first row at the ceremony. “While there has been a lot of tough talk, I have seen the genuine respect and care that President Trump has for Mexico and the Mexican people, and I do believe we have been able to put that in the right light.” Kushner said Nieto represented Mexico well during trade talks, and thanked his wife, Ivanka Trump, for her understanding trade negotiators would arrive at their residence late into the night. “I believe we are at a historic place in the relationship between our two countries,” Mr. Kushner said during the ceremony. After the ceremony, Trump went to meet with Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who all spoke publicly before signing the United States Mexico Canada Agreement, on the side of the G-20 summit in Argentina.

Border Patrol Arrests MS-13 Member Who Traveled with Caravan “U.S. Border Patrol agents have arrested a member of the infamous Salvadoran MS-13 gang who admitted to authorities that he traveled with a caravan of Central American migrants who were hoping to qualify for asylum in America,” Mairead McArdle reports for National Review. “During questioning at the El Centro station, the Honduran citizen confessed that he is an active member of MS-13 and had intended to enter the country illegally after traveling to the U.S. with the caravan of thousands of other migrants. He is in custody pending his deportation back to Honduras.” President Trump has made MS-13 a priority in his crackdown on illegal immigration and said last month that the latest caravan, estimated to consist of as many as 7,000 people, contained MS-13 members. “You’re going to find MS-13, you’re going to find Middle Eastern, you’re going to find everything,” he said of the caravan travelers. The gang was started in Los Angeles in the 1980s and has a large presence in El Salvador and other Central American countries, where it terrorizes locals. Several crimes perpetrated by its members have made national headlines in the U.S., including the September 2016 murder on Long Island of two young girls, ages 15 and 16. In April, another MS-13 member, Herberth Geovani Argueta-Chavez, 18, was apprehended after illegally entering the U.S. with a group suspected to be part of the caravan that headed for the border last spring. He posed as an unaccompanied minor before police discovered his identity as an adult gang member. The president on Monday threatened to close the border permanently if Mexico does not help contain the wave of asylum seekers. Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the Border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2018

New Numbers: 91 Percent of Central American Asylum Seekers Have Bogus Claims “New numbers from the Department of Homeland Security show that just 9 percent of asylum claims made by individuals from Central America turn out to be legitimate,” Katie Pavlich reports for Townhall. “The fact that only 9 percent of those who initially claim asylum are found eligible, indicates that we are expending most of our limited resources – detention space, court space and the time of our asylum officers and immigration judges – denying frivolous or illegitimate claims of asylum from the 9 out of 10 who are found ineligible,” “The low statutory requirements and legal loopholes in our laws encourage aliens to claim credible fear at our Southern border knowing they will be promptly released into the interior with work permits pending the determination of their full claim. In recent years, data shows that more than 65 percent of asylum seekers at our border are from Central America – of those 89 percent pass their initial credible-fear interview,” DHS said in a statement. Current U.S. immigration law requires illegal aliens traveling from Central America as a family unit, specifically with children, to be released into the interior of the United States after 20 days of federal detention. “Where are those 91 percent today? While some are properly removed from the U.S. by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), many of those who are released on a promise to appear in court disappear into the country’s interior to live and work illegally. In FY17, only 1 percent of the 226,119 removals conducted by ICE were on Alternatives to Detention,” Waldman said. Meanwhile, thousands of caravan members are still camped out in Tijuana with thousands more along the way. Reporters on the ground, in addition to Border Patrol agents, have repeatedly pointed out the majority of individuals in the caravan are young men who are not legitimately seeking asylum.

WEST WING MHI 

The Week MHI Dailybriefing ;

10 things you need to know today !

1. Michael Cohen pleads guilty to lying to Senate about Trump-Russia deal Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, pleaded guilty Thursday to lying to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen told the Senate Intelligence Committee the discussions ended in January 2016, but now admits they continued until that June, well into Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Cohen said he updated Trump and his family members several times. BuzzFeed News reported that the Trump Organization wanted to give Russian President Vladimir Putin a $50 million penthouse in the tower. Trump said Cohen, who has cooperated with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team since pleading guilty to financial crimes in August, was “making up a story” now to “get a reduced sentence.” Trump also called the Mueller investigation “an illegal hoax that should be ended immediately.” [The New York Times, BuzzFeed News] 2. Trump cancels G-20 meeting with Putin, citing Ukraine conflict President Trump announced on Twitter Thursday that he had canceled a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that was scheduled to take place at the G-20 summit on Saturday, citing Russia’s seizure of three Ukrainian naval vessels. “Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting,” Trump tweeted ahead of his Thursday arrival in Argentina for the summit. Trump had suggested on Tuesday that he might call off the meeting because of this incident, saying “maybe I won’t even have the meeting” because “I don’t like that aggression.” Earlier Thursday Russia had said the meeting was confirmed with the White House. [Donald J. Trump, USA Today] 3. World leaders gather for G-20 summit overshadowed by trade tensions and more Leaders from the world’s biggest economies are gathering in Argentina Friday for the start of the two-day Group of 20 summit. The leaders, including President Trump, will discuss infrastructure, investment, and other critical issues. The talks could be overshadowed by events on the sidelines, particularly Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the U.S.-China trade war. The U.S., Canada, and Mexico planned to sign their new trade pact on Friday, putting it a step closer to ratification. The conflict over Ukraine also looms over the meeting, and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is making his first big overseas appearance since the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Intelligence agencies suspect the crown prince ordered the killing, which Saudi Arabia denies. [The Associated Press] 4. Lawmakers drop new food-stamp work requirements in farm-bill deal House and Senate negotiators on Thursday reached a deal on a compromise farm bill that drops plans pushed by House Republicans and President Trump that would have added new work requirements on food stamp beneficiaries. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas), chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, confirmed that the deal ditched the new work requirements, which would have applied to older food stamp recipients and parents of children age 6 and up. Roberts said he hoped for a vote next week on the compromise $400 billion farm bill, which allocates federal money for farm subsidies, food stamps, and conservation programs. [The Washington Post, Politico] 5. Republican Sen. Tim Scott joins Democrats to block controversial judicial nominee Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said Thursday that he would vote against President Trump’s nomination of Thomas Farr to be a District Court judge, joining fellow Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona in opposition and effectively killing the nomination. Scott said in a statement that he had “lingering concerns” about Farr’s “decision-making process,” an apparent reference to Farr’s alleged support of late Sen. Jesse Helms’ campaigns to intimidate black voters. Flake has vowed to vote against all judicial nominees until the Senate passes legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. The Senate Judiciary Committee canceled a Thursday hearing on judicial nominees due to Flake’s opposition. [Politico] 6. Facebook COO reportedly told staff to research Soros after critical speech Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg asked communications staffers to investigate billionaire liberal activist George Soros after he criticized Facebook in a January speech, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing three people with knowledge of the request. Soros called Facebook and Google a “menace” to society, and said they should be regulated. Sandberg reportedly asked her staff to look into why Soros had lambasted the company and whether doing so benefited him financially. At the time, Facebook was under scrutiny for its role in spreading Russian propaganda during the 2016 election. Not long after Sandberg made her request, Facebook was accused of helping push anti-Semitic attacks against Soros. [The New York Times] 7. U.S. life expectancy drops, suicide rate rises The life expectancy for Americans dropped again last year, a record number of Americans died, and the suicide rate hit a 50-year high, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a series of reports Thursday. Public health experts can’t point to any one factor for the 70,000 more deaths in 2017 — for a record 2.8 million deaths total — but the rise in suicide and drug overdose deaths, plus an uptick in fatal flu and pneumonia cases, helped explain the grim news. The drop in life expectancy — children born in 2017 were expected to live to 78.6, down from 78.7 years in 2016 — combined with similar annual declines since 2014, put the U.S. in the longest slide in life expectancy since 1915-1918. [The Washington Post] 8. Hate crimes rise in Canada Canada’s statistical agency reported Thursday that hate crimes in the country increased 47 percent in 2017. Crimes against Muslims accounted for the biggest increase, with a rise to 349 crimes from 139 the previous year. Crimes against black people rose to 321 from 214, and those against Jewish people increased to 360 from 221, Statistics Canada reported. The spike mirrored an increase in hate crimes for three straight years in the U.S., according to FBI figures. Some minority and anti-hate activists said some of the rising violence in Canada stemmed from hateful rhetoric in the U.S. “We were shocked by the numbers — and, at the same time, we weren’t,” said Ihsaan Gardee, executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims. “This increase didn’t occur in a vacuum.” [Reuters] 9. Crews complete search for Northern California fire victims Search teams on Thursday completed their work checking for human remains in parts of Northern California devastated by the Camp Fire, the deadliest blaze in the state’s history. The death toll from the fire, which started Nov. 8 and destroyed 13,696 homes and about 4,000 other structures, stood at 88, although nearly 200 people were still listed as missing. Sheriff Kory Honea of Butte County, who led the search, said he was “very optimistic” that the people still unaccounted for would be found alive. “Given the due diligence that was done with regard to the search for human remains in the affected area, I am very hopeful that we won’t see any kind of increase,” he said. [The New York Times] 10. New York critics name Netflix’s Roma best film of the year The New York Film Critics Circle on Thursday named Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, a Netflix original film, the best movie of 2018. Cuarón also took home the awards for best director and best cinematography. These winners are determined by New York-based film critics, and their choices each year are often aligned with the eventual Academy Award nominations. Meanwhile, First Reformed‘s Ethan Hawke won best actor and writer Paul Schrader won best screenplay. Regina Hall surprised by winning best actress for her work in Support the Girls, while Richard E. Grant was awarded best supporting actor for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and Regina King took best supporting actress for If Beale Street Could Talk. [Deadline] The Week MHI