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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will hold bilateral talks with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump on July 8 in Washington, where he will underline his commitment to trade and investment, Mexicos foreign minister said on Wednesday.

FILE PHOTO: Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a news conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico June 29, 2020. Mexico's Presidency/Handout via REUTERS

The leftist Lopez Obrador has not left his country since taking office in December 2018, and paying his first foreign visit to Trump is politically risky because the Republican U.S. president is widely disliked in Mexico.

TheMexican president has described the planned visit, which is intended to celebrate the start of a new North American trade deal on July 1, as a matter of economic necessity.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Lopez Obrador would hold bilateral talks with Trump on the afternoon of July 8. Trilateral matters that include Canada will be on the agenda on the morning of July 9, he added.

Mexico wanted to stress its commitment to trade, investment and social welfare at the Washington summit, Ebrard told a news conference, standing alongside Lopez Obrador.

Trump said in a statement he looked forward to welcoming Lopez Obrador to the White House for talks on trade, health and security issues, as they marked the July 1 start of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The USMCA is replacing the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Mexico has urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take part in the meeting, and Ebrard said he expected Canadas government to detail its plans soon.

So far, Canada had not responded to the invitation to participate in Washington, Lopez Obrador said.

Many Mexicans have held Trump in low regard since he described Mexican migrants as rapists and drug runners in his 2015-16 election campaign and vowed to make Mexico pay for his planned border wall.

He has also made repeated threats against Mexicos economy to pressure its government to stem illegal immigration.

Reporting by Dave Graham and Anthony Esposito in Mexico City; Additional reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Jonathan Oatis

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Mexican president to hold first meeting with Trump on July 8 - Reuters

US President Donald Trumps decision to suspend work visas and pause issuance of green cards hits one country the hardest -- India. His executive order is temporary, but that wont shorten the chain of disappointment, or mitigate suffering of thousands of families.

Last weeks proclamation suspended H-1B (high-skilled workers), H-4 (spouses of H-1Bs), L-1 (intra-company transfers) visas, among others, until the end of 2020. The stated reason: the US economy and high unemployment. Unstated reason: shoring up Trumps base and tapping potential voters who have turned fearful of immigration because of the coronavirus pandemic.

There are two sides to the order: an obvious political one, and a potentially deeper regulatory problem, which could negatively impact hundreds of thousands of Indians awaiting green cards.

The executive order is red meat to Trumps base and completes the circle of his initial, Buy American, Hire American edict. Fear is easy to exploit in any political season, but its easier with an economy in dire straits and a second wave of coronavirus hitting the country.

Donald Trumps poll numbers are bad, and he seems nervous about re-election, going by his Twitter meter. He let anti-immigration hawkish advisor Stephen Miller loose to do what scores of US business leaders opposed. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon et al have criticised the suspension of H-1B visas, saying it would hurt the US economy and lead to more off-shoring. Canada is already a beneficiary.

But the #AmericaFirst crowd is happy, and sees the decision as a much-needed correction. Critics have long claimed the H-1B progamme is nothing but a vehicle for cheap labour to be exploited by large corporations. In reality, H-1B visas have become increasingly burdensome.

So, whats the real impact of Trumps latest disruption? First, US embassies and consulates stopped processing visas on March 20 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Its unclear when those services will resume, and uncertainty adds to the misery of those caught in the middle.

Second, Trumps order affects future applicants, not existing ones. Trump clearly split the difference between Millers extremism and other advisors moderation. But if the economy doesnt improve and the suspension continues, things will get tougher.

Third, US companies have cut back on projected budgets as they try to stabilise in this virus-hit environment where safety regulations and social distancing make hiring more difficult.

Fourth, Indian IT companies have already adjusted their business models -- they are less reliant on H-1B visas. The story has changed over time given the constant attacks, bad press, rising visa fees, and the growing jungle of paperwork required for H-1Bs.

Indian IT majors have steadily increased local hiring with as much as 70% of the work force coming from within the US. Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Tech Mahindra have thousands of Americans working for them. That cant be news to Miller or the anti-H-1B lobby. But facts rarely interfere in an ideological battle.

Its true that most of the H-1B visa holders are Indian, and the vast majority are employed by US tech titans, not Indian companies. In 2019, of the 388,403 H-1Bs, 72% were from India. China is in second place at 13%. The story is the same for green cards.

This is where the regulations to enforce Trumps order could be the devil of the detail. The new regulatory framework is expected soon but no one knows when. If existing rules are changed, more than 350,000 Indian professionals on H-1Bs awaiting green cards could become vulnerable.

The Indian line is long, because the US issues 140,000 employment-based green cards annually, and the 7% per country limit has swelled Indian numbers over the years. They are perfectly legal as of now. But Miller and his ideological friends in various agencies could demand new labour certification through new regulations. That would prompt legal challenges taking the fight to the courts.

The US Congress could help by lifting the 7% cap on green cards. But a powerful Democrat -- Senator Dick Durbin -- has effectively blocked recent bipartisan efforts to do precisely that.

Everyone agrees Americas immigration is broken. Attempts at comprehensive reform have failed over the years because Democrats and Republicans cant agree on a fix. Tinkering and piecemeal solutions have given temporary relief. But thats about it.

Now the two parties are so far apart, a bipartisan solution seems distant. The Democrats essentially see immigration as a human right and want any deal to include a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. The Republicans want no such amnesty, only the best and the brightest. Trump knows Americas mood has changed on immigration. He has been busy erecting walls.

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View: Trump's H-1B visa suspension may have more to it than meets the eye - Economic Times

They dont believe a word I say. They decided Im a liar. They want me to be a liar.

Midway through Sitting in Limbo, a recent feature-length drama from the BBC, Anthony Bryan (Patrick Robinson) articulates a fury with the British government shared by many Caribbean-born Britons over the last eight years.

Written by Mr. Bryans half brother, Stephen S. Thompson, the 90-minute drama offers an intimate and fictionalized account of how a 2012 government policy with the stated aim of creating a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants in Britain upended Mr. Bryans life, as well as the lives of thousands of other legal residents of the country, in what became known as the Windrush scandal.

Id like it to concentrate peoples mind on the fact that the Windrush scandal is ongoing, Mr. Thompson said in a recent phone interview. Despite a number of documentaries and books and articles, it being a national scandal, it was in danger of fading off the scene completely, he added.

In Sitting in Limbo, we meet Mr. Bryan in 2016, at which point he had been living in Britain for 50 years, a grandfather working as a painter and decorator in Edmonton, North London. We see him suddenly labeled an illegal immigrant, unable to get work, and arrested. The cost of applying for a passport almost tips him into destitution, as he and his partner are forced to move and face the looming threat of deportation to Jamaica, a country Mr. Bryan left at the age of 8.

This is the very human cost of the decision by the future prime minister Theresa May, when she was the cabinet minister responsible for immigration rules, to impose tough new requirements for people not born in Britain to prove their legal status. The policy left thousands of U.K. residents from former British colonies in the Caribbean mistakenly classified as being in Britain illegally.

In 1948, a passenger liner called Empire Windrush carried some of the thousands of colonial subjects who had been invited to rebuild Britain following World War II. They became known as the Windrush generation and under the law at the time had an automatic right to settle. Many children arrived on their parents passports. The government did not keep track of those arriving from the Caribbean, and in 2010, landing cards recording arrivals were destroyed. As a result, come the 2010s, thousands of people were unable to provide paperwork to prove they were in the country legally under Mrs. Mays new rules.

On Twitter last week, Priti Patel, the current holder of Mrs. Mays old post as home secretary, said the drama epitomizes the unimaginable suffering endured by the Windrush generation and apologized. An hour before the films release, Ms. Patel invited Mr. Bryan to join a video call, The Guardian reported, which he declined.

For Mr. Thompson, this is all lip service. Last week, Britains human rights watchdog said it would assess the hostile environment policy, but none of the measures that led to the Windrush scandal have been revoked. Many people are still awaiting compensation from the governments 200 million hardship fund. Some have received little compensation for years of being unable to work, and others have since died.

For Glenda Caesar, 58, watching Sitting in Limbo revived traumatic memories of her own experiences over the last few years. His mental breakdown was them coming and knocking the door, she said in a phone interview, referring to Mr. Bryan. But mine was more of a depressive mode, trying to accumulate paperwork that I couldnt find, which the government had destroyed.

Having arrived in Britain as a three-month-old child from Dominica in 1961, Ms. Caesar fought for the right to remain in the country for years as she faced unemployment and mounting debt after being classified as an illegal immigrant.

Filming of Sitting in Limbo began late last year, and the release was then delayed by the global coronavirus pandemic. But in many ways, Mr. Thompson said, the timing couldnt be better, given that in the last month Black Lives Matter protests have sprung up across the world following the killing of George Floyd.

For decades, the legacy of Britains empire has created fault lines across race and economic class. These tensions have revealed themselves in the racial abuse hurled at Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, by British tabloids, and, more recently, in the toppling of a statue of a slave trader by Black Lives Matter protesters.

In Sitting in Limbo, Mr. Bryan is forced to gather the paper trails of his life. As his story evolves, we see him motivated by a desire for belonging and for some validation of his dual identity. In the dramas final act, when he shows his new British passport to his partner, Janet McKay-Williams (Nadine Marshall), she can only muster a single sigh.

If youd asked me how I felt whilst we were making the film, Mr. Thompson said, when asked what it meant to be a black man in Britain, I would have said At least I live in a country which allows me the opportunity to tell this story and reach a wide audience.

But now, hes reassessing. The publics response to the film on social media and in his inbox praise, but also outrage at the continuing scandal and Britains structural racism has given him more to think about, he said: As a writer, but also as a black Briton, where do I go from here? What stories do I want to tell next?

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Dramatizing the Human Toll of a U.K. Political Scandal - The New York Times

A Latina woman who supports the Black Lives Matter movement and a white Trump supporter stare each other down as they argue about race. (Whitney Bryen/Oklahoma Watch)

TULSA Dozens of conservatives wearing stars-and-stripes sunglasses and Make America Great Again hats gathered in a street in downtown Tulsa Saturday night.

A few wore Trump 2020 face masks, but most had no face coverings.

Just after 7 p.m., the crowd huddled around a boy holding a megaphone that broadcast President Donald Trumps speech live from the BOK Center three blocks away. A man next to the boy held up his cellphone for all to see a video of Trump speaking.

These Trump supporters didnt gain entrance to the event because barricade gates had been shut down. But they cheered, clapped and laughed together as they listened and watched from the streets.

A Georgia woman in the group said she felt supported by the strangers around her. She felt free to express her views openly.

A dead battery cut off the broadcast. As the crowd waited for the video to restart, a new sound filled the street. A mass of protesters marched toward the crowd with Black Lives Matter signs and a chant of Go home racists.

Tensions had been building since the announcement that Trumps campaign was hitting the road again and the first event would be in Tulsa, not far from where a 1921 race massacre had occurred. The rally was supposed to be on June 19, or Juneteenth, which celebrates the emancipation of slaves, but after an outcry, Trump rescheduled the event for June 20.

Clashes between Trump supporters and protesters popped up sporadically Saturday outside a barrier surrounding the BOK Center. People on both sides yelled, sometimes in each others faces, but no violence erupted.

Oklahoma Watch

A young Latina woman stared up at a tall white man in a Keep America Great hat as she tried to explain why protesters were calling Trump supporters racist. She was tired of fighting for her friends, for herself, and for change. How could someone not see the injustices?

The man said he couldnt take the Black Lives Matter movement seriously because of the violence and looting at recent protests across the nation. He was tired of having to defend Trump and his own policy views. How could someone think he was racist?

The pair began talking calmly for several minutes and then went their separate ways.

People drove hours and even flew for the first time in months to see Trump speak at his first campaign rally since COVID-19 shut down much of the country.

The rally likely the largest public gathering since the pandemic hit the country hard drew thousands from across the nation and some international visitors.

A Black college student from Texas said he was nervous about being exposed to the virus. But he felt it was worth the risk to speak up, and stand up, for Black lives. Like many protesters, he wore a mask as he marched.

Trump supporters from Canada, Florida and Illinois said they believe the virus has been over-hyped. Most people at the rally did not wear masks.

Many were there to have fun, to make new, like-minded friends and to show their support, including Angelica Austin.

When she was 6, Austins mother sneaked her unlawfully into the United States from Mexico. Austin was born in Poland, and communist rule had drained the economy, she said. There was no money, and jobs and food were scarce.

I remember her having to wait for bread in line at 5 oclock in morning, Austin said. She wanted something better for us.

Austin and her mother lived in the U.S. as undocumented immigrants for eight years until they were granted amnesty under President Ronald Reagans Immigration Reform and Control Act. After a decade and endless paperwork, they became citizens.

The road was long and hard, but worth all of the efforts, Austin said.

Still, she opposes illegal immigration. Im grateful to my mother for what she did, but I dont think people should come here illegally, Austin said. Its not fair to everyone else.

This week, Austin, 45, who lives in a Chicago suburb, made the 10-hour drive to Tulsa to show her support for Trump and his immigration policies, which she said protect American citizens.

People who come here illegally take the jobs of people that have been working here to build their lives, Austin said.

Austin was camped out with her 13-year-old daughter Zoe to make sure they gained admission to Trumps rally. They were joined by two sisters from Kansas who met them in line for the rally; they were taking turns saving their spots. Two nights of camping turned out to be unnecessary, as the event center didnt fill to capacity.

It didnt matter though. It was fun being with our people, Austin said. And it was nice to get out of the house after months of stay-at-home orders, she said.

We just wanted to get out and see how other people are living, Austin said.

Safety from the virus and potential violence drove some protesters to organize away from downtown. Tulsas Black Lives Matter chapter gathered at John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, which was dedicated in the hope of reconciliation and cooperation for Tulsa and the nation, according to the John Hope Franklin Center website.

In Veterans Park, about a mile away from the arena, the Tulsa Rally Against Hate took place offering a space to those who dont support Trump and his policies.

Groups sat on patches of grass in the muggy afternoon heat. Homemade signs with phrases like Together we are stronger than Trump were held up in the air. People cheered through cloth masks and clapped as speakers talked about racism, sexism and peace.

Landon Thomas sat in a corner of the park with two of his friends. With a bucket hat strapped to his head, Thomas held up a Rally For Justice poster.

Thomas, a veterinary assistant, discussed race as one of the primary issues he was rallying for. Because of his Native American heritage, Thomas said he stands with those who are oppressed.

Daniel Pearl, right, a supporter of President Donald Trump, questions protesters as he waits to enter a safety barricade for Trumps campaign rally Saturday in Tulsa. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP)

While the tone of conversation in the park was heavy, the rally itself was light. People played music, talked, ate and cheered together. It became a kind of social justice picnic.

Eugene Moore, 56, of Oklahoma City, and his 17-year-old daughter, Journey, wore Black Lives Matter masks as they marched in downtown Tulsa Saturday night.

The protest wasnt about Trump or Trump supporters specifically, said Moore, who wore an I cant breathe shirt, in reference to the recent death of George Floyd during an arrest by police. It was a chance for Blacks to be heard by people who dont believe racism is a problem or that police brutality exists, he said.

I dont care about Trump. I dont care about Biden, Moore said. I care about justice for our children, and were going to continue to fight until we get it.

As an armed security guard for an events company, Moore said he works with police often. But while his professional experiences have been good, his personal experiences with police have been difficult.

On one occasion, Moore said he was pulled over by a gang enforcement agent in Oklahoma City who harassed him and called him names. The agent did not explain why he thought Moore was associated with a gang. Moore said after the agent checked his identification, he was allowed to leave.

On another night, Moore was pulled over driving home from work. He told the officer he was armed because he had just ended a shift working security. Moore said the officer froze for a moment, then quickly reached for his gun. Another officer at the scene jumped in and talked the officer into putting his weapon away. Moore was allowed to leave.

The thought of what could have happened compels Moore to speak out.

Its these types of things that are going on in our community, he said, and we can no longer stand by and ask people, peacefully, to please stop killing us.

Oklahoma Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that produces in-depth and investigative content on a wide range of issues facing the state. For more Oklahoma Watch content, go to oklahomawatch.org.

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Trump rally: What drove them to be there? - Journal Record

Protests over police violence had eclipsed concern over the coronavirus for several weeks, but last week brought some renewed focus on the pandemic, which, despite Trumps best attempts to move past it, remains stubbornly present. The numbers of people testing positive are skyrocketing now in prospective November swing states, including Arizona, North Carolina, and even Texas. (The virus likely had some effect on the turnout at the rally in Tulsa too: Trumps base is still excited about him, but many supporters seemed rightfully wary about attending an event that required signing a waiver of liability for sickness.) On Thursday, the Labor Department announced that 1.5 million new unemployment claims had been filed in the preceding week, another sign that the rapid recovery Trump has heralded isnt coming.

The past week also dealt Trump several setbacks in court. On Monday morning, the Supreme Courtin a 63 decision written by Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointeeruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects LGBTQ people from employment discrimination. The Trump administration had argued that the law didnt apply to this population, and the government appeared to be caught off guard by the ruling. Three days later, the Court ruled that the presidents cancellation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was invalid because he hadnt followed proper procedures.

Each of these decisions was a blow to the administration, because it went against the position staked out by the executive branch. The DACA case undermines Trumps promises to get tough on illegal immigration, though he went wobbly on Dreamers long ago. But the twin defeats have additional political ramifications, given that both are also major disappointments for conservatives.

The president has argued that his power to select Supreme Court justices is the ultimate reason why conservatives who are otherwise wary of him must support him. Trump can try to use these defeats to argue that giving him another term is essential, because new Supreme Court appointments seem likely in the next four years. But the losses may also undermine enthusiasm. Despite his two appointments to the Court already, he lost these two casesand his own pick wrote the Civil Rights Act decision. Do you get the impression the Supreme Court doesnt like me? Trump whined on Twitter. Its not the cry of a winner.

On Saturday, Trump suffered another loss in a lower court, where a judge refused to block the release of former National Security Adviser John Boltons damning memoir, saying that because the book had already shipped, the damage is done.

David A. Graham: John Bolton plumbs the depths of Trumps depravity

No kidding. Boltons memoirwhich leaked on Wednesdayis full of horrifying news about Trumps handling of national security. Bolton writes of a Trump who makes every decision with an eye to his reelection campaign, for whom obstruction of justice [was] a way of life, and who shrugged at Chinese concentration camps for Uighurs. In interviews, Bolton has said that Trump is unfit for office. Bolton, whose politics might appropriately be described as severely conservative, has even vowed to vote against Trump in 2020.

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The Night Trump Stopped Trying - The Atlantic