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SAN ANTONIO
MEXICO
Driver in smuggling tragedy pleads guilty
Border gunbattles leave 11 dead ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Charged for deaths of 10 immigrants By Jason Buch and Guillermo Contreras SA N A NT ONI O E XPRE SS-NEWS
The semitruck driver who transported dozens of immigrants in his sweltering trailer this summer from Laredo to San Antonio — where police arrested him in a Walmart parking lot and later charged him in the deaths of 10 of the immigrants — pleaded guilty Monday to smuggling. James Matthew Bradley, 61, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport aliens resulting in death and one count of transporting aliens
resulting in death. He faces up to life in prison when he’s sentenced by a federal judge in January. On July 23, police responding to a call found the trailer in the parking lot of the Walmart on the South Side. Eight of the 39 undocumented immigrants at the scene were dead, and two later succumbed to heat-related injuries. The dead were from Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico. Police found Bradley in the cab, along with a Derringer gun, ammunition and $5,643 in cash, prosecutors revealed Monday. Immigrants interviewed by Guilty continues on A8
Marvin Pfeiffer / San Antonio Express-News
James Matthew Bradley, Jr., center, is escorted into the John H. Wood, Jr. Federal Courthouse to meet with his lawyers on July 26.
NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
REWRITING NAFTA STALLED
CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico — A running series of gunbattles caused at least 11 deaths in the northern Mexico border state of Tamauilpas, authorities said Monday. Officials said the shootouts in the border city of Reynosa and the nearby town of Rio Bravo started late Sunday. Gunmen hijacked vehicles and used them to block streets, and spread bent nails to puncture tires to facilitate their getaways. Authorities called in a helicopter to support ground patrols moving to break up the roadblocks. One group of four gunmen was killed near a gas station after they opened fire on a military patrol, officials said. Three other bodies were discovered at other points around Rio Bravo. Police found 13 improvised armored vehicles, which are usually light trucks with welded steel plating. Such vehicles are often used by drug gangs in Tamaulipas. Officers also found six hand grenades, 17 40-mm rifle-launched grenades and about three dozen guns, inMexico continues on A8
U.S. SENATE
GOP supports border wall budget
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP/Getty Images
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, center, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, left, and Mexican Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal hold a press conference at the conclusion of the fourth round of negotiations for a new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
Funds to be set in a trillion-dollar spending bill in December By Erik Wasson BL OOMBERG
Chances for a deal being reached this year are slim By Paul Wiseman A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
WASHINGTON — Talks to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement have stalled over tough American demands, dashing hopes that a deal can be reached this year. A fourth round of negotiations between the U.S., Mexico and Canada ended in mutual exasperation Tuesday. Talks will continue next month in Mexico City and will spill over
into next year. The negotiators had originally hoped to reach an agreement this year — before Mexico’s presidential election and U.S. midterms turn up the political pressure in 2018. President Donald Trump, who called NAFTA a job-killing “disaster” on the campaign trail, has threatened to withdraw from the 23-year-old pact if he can’t get what he wants. Canada and Mexico are balking at America’s demand that a revamped deal do something to
reduce America’s trade deficits. “We have seen no indication that our partners are willing to make any changes that will result in a rebalancing and a reduction in these huge trade deficits,” U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer said. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland countered that America’s “unconventional” proposals would “turn back the clock” and warned against a “winner-take-all mindset.” NAFTA ripped down most trade barriers between the U.S.,
Canada and Mexico. Trade surged within the NAFTA bloc, benefiting American farmers who export corn and other products. But many U.S. manufacturers moved production south of the border to take advantage of Mexico’s low labor costs, then shipped goods back to the United States. The influx of imports swelled America’s trade deficit with Mexico, which came to $62 billion last year. (The United States logged an $8 billion trade
Senate Republicans have drafted a Homeland Security spending bill that includes the full $1.6 billion President Donald Trump wants for a wall at the Mexican border, increasing the chances of a shutdown fight before current government funding runs out Dec. 8. Bill author Senator John Boozman of Arkansas told reporters Tuesday the border wall funds would be resolved in a giant trillion-dollar spending bill in December, along with the issue of whether to continue work permits for immigrants
NAFTA continues on A8
Budget continues on A8