Trump’s administration can’t decide whether or not they should accept Mexico’s offer to provide help for the victims of hurricane Harvey.
On Monday, Aug. 28, Huffington Post released an article stating that Trump’s administration had not decided if they will accept Mexico’s offer to give aid to the victims of hurricane Harvey.
Instead, the White House and State Department gave Mexico similar statements in reply to their offer to help, “If a need for assistance does arise, we will work with our partners, including Mexico, to determine the best way forward.”
Mexico has a history of giving aid to America during natural disasters, such as when hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in September of 2005; Mexico’s military sent a 45 vehicle convoy to help with recovery efforts.
So why won’t Trump just accept the help now?
When HuffPost reporters asked the Trump administration if it had assessed if there were no need for assistance from Mexico, they referred them to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who sent them to the State Department who then sent them back over to FEMA.
Trump has been weakening America’s close relationship with Mexico since the start of his presidency.
While hurricane Harvey was raging on in Houston on Aug. 27, Trump was tweeting that “With Mexico being one of the highest crime Nations in the world, we must have THE WALL. Mexico will pay for it through reimbursement/other.”
That very same day he even tweeted out, “We are in the NAFTA (worst trade deal ever made) renegotiation process with Mexico & Canada. Both being very difficult, might have to terminate?”
As president, it is Trump’s job to help and protect his people; instead of doing his job and getting the people of Texas who were impacted by hurricane Harvey all the help he can get, he brings up the wall that continues to add to the strain on our relationship with Mexico.
It wasn’t until after his tweets about the wall and NAFTA that he tweeted out that emergency rescue operations were underway, but they’re not enough.
Texas law enforcement agencies took to Twitter to request that any volunteers that had boats assist with rescue operations.
Jeffrey Stern, also tweeted that all 28 of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue teams had been mobilized for the first time since 9/11.
On Aug. 28th, CNN also released an article about civilians taking it upon themselves to rescue fellow victims.
In the article they stated that civilians who escaped the flooding on boats either rescued others along the way, some even turning back to continue with their rescue efforts.
Hearing civilians taking it upon themselves to help each other is great, but Trump should still do his job and just accept the help Mexico has offered. Mexico’s undersecretary for North America Carlos Sada told HuffPost that their ‘offering is open and permanent’.
Ongoing rescue efforts aside, Harvey has been estimated to dump up to 50 inches of rain over part of southeastern Texas, displace about 30,000 people and destroy countless homes and buildings.
Texas needs all the help it can get, but it doesn’t look like the President is willing to put an end to his campaign against Mexico in order to get it.
