US President Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted that migrants at the US-Mexico border would stay in Mexico until their asylum claims were individually approved in US courts, but Mexico’s incoming government denied they had struck any deal.
Incoming Mexican Minister of the Interior Olga Sanchez Cordero said there was “no agreement of any type between the future government of Mexico and the United States.”
Sanchez Cordero, the top domestic policy official for Mexican president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who takes office on Saturday, told reporters that the incoming government was in talks with the US, but said that they could not make any agreement, as they were not yet in government.
Sanchez Cordero ruled out that Mexico would be declared a “safe third country” for asylum claimants, following a Washington Post report of a deal with the Trump administration known as “Remain in Mexico,” which quoted her calling it a “short-term solution.”
The plan, according to the newspaper, foresees migrants staying in Mexico while their asylum claims in the US are being processed, potentially ending a system Trump decries as “catch and release” that has until now often allowed those seeking refuge to wait on safer US soil.
“Migrants at the Southern Border will not be allowed into the United States until their claims are individually approved in court. We only will allow those who come into our Country legally. Other than that our very strong policy is Catch and Detain. No ‘Releasing’ into the U.S.,” Trump tweeted.
“All will stay in Mexico,” Trump added in second tweet, that also threatened to close the US southern border if necessary.
Jenna Gilbert, managing attorney for the Los Angeles office of Human Rights First, a legal rights organization, said Trump’s plan is “outright illegal and I’m sure the administration will once more see itself in court.”
Trump has been seeking to block thousands of Central Americans traveling in caravans from entering the US and has ordered that immigrants who enter the country illegally from Mexico are ineligible for asylum.
That order has been temporary suspended by a US judge.
Sanchez Cordero, who said that the situation of migrant caravans was “very delicate,” did not explicitly rule out that Mexico could keep the migrants on its soil while their US asylum claims are processed.
However, she said that plans to assume “safe third country” status were “ruled out.”
If Mexico were to assume “safe third country” status, asylum seekers would be required to claim refugee status in Mexico rather than the US.
Migration advocates have long argued that Mexico does not have the security conditions to offer safe haven for migrants fleeing violence in Central America.
The Washington Post article cited Mexican officials and senior members of Lopez Obrador’s transition team and said the deal would break with long-standing asylum rules and mount a new obstacle to Central American migrants attempting to seek refuge in the US from poverty and violence.
Alison Leal Parker, US managing director for Human Rights Watch, said the plan was “a pathetic attempt by the United States to shirk responsibility. Central Americans have faced serious harm in Mexico.”
The effect, Parker said, would likely “push people fleeing for [their] lives into riskier attempts to find safety, including using criminal human smugglers who will gain power under this new policy.”
Incoming Mexican Deputy Minister of the Interior Zoe Robledo said that details of the “Remain in Mexico” scheme were still being worked out.
“What we’re aiming for is that people leaving their countries due to security issues or violence can find a place to stay in Mexico if that is their decision,” Robledo told reporters.
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