Mexico's incoming government has denied reports of a US deal to keep migrants from crossing the border until their asylum claims are processed. President Donald Trump has said, however, that "all will stay in Mexico."
Image: Getty Images/M. Tama
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Some 5,000 Central American migrants camped at the Mexican border city of Tijuana "will not be allowed into the United States until their claims are individually approved in court," US President Donald Trump tweeted late Saturday.
Trump also restated his intention to close the US-Mexico border if "for any reason it becomes necessary."
"We will only allow those who come into our Country [sic] legally," he wrote. "All will stay in Mexico."
Since mid-October, the migrants have been walking north from Honduras through Guatemala and Mexico in an attempt to reach the United States and claim asylum. Trump, who campaigned on an anti-immigration platform, deployed 6,000 troops to reinforce the US border police and the National Guard at the border with Mexico ahead of the midterm elections.
Trump's tweets seemed to corroborate a report in The Washington Post that a deal had been reached between the US and Mexico. The migrants would be able to stay in Mexico as a "short-term solution," the newspaper reported, citing officials in Mexico's incoming government. The members of the caravan would be made to wait until their asylum requests were processed in the US.
On average, less than 10 percent of all asylum claims are accepted by US authorities.
"For now, we have agreed to this policy of Remain in Mexico," the paper quoted incoming Interior Minister Olga Sanchez Cordero as saying. Sanchez is due to take office on December 1, along with President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Tijuana: Migrants face tough choice
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No 'safe third country'
Unexpectedly, however, the same official later denied the existence of an agreement "of any sort" with Washington.
"The future government does not consider [...] that Mexico assumes the status of 'safe third country' for Central American migrants, or from other countries, who are on Mexican territory or for those who will reach it in the future," Sanchez said in a statement.
The statement did not explain Sanchez's earlier quote published in The Washington Post.
Mexican officials also did not immediately comment on Trump's latest tweets.
Tijuana cannot bear the expense of nearly 5,000 migrants who are camping in a local football stadium, he said. The local authorities need some 550,000 pesos ($27,000/€23,800) just to provide them with food. Over 700 civil servants are also assisting at the scene.
"I will not spend the money of the inhabitants of Tijuana," said Gastelum.
He also said federal authorities were considering sending 20 tons of resources, but that three-quarters of that was material to reinforce the border and only five to assist the migrants.
Central American immigrants turn to Mexico
Most migrants to the United States from the so-called "Northern Triangle" of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are staying in Mexico for now — because of Donald Trump's new immigration policies.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
No longer first choice
In a migrant shelter in the southern Mexican city of Tenosique, near the Guatemalan border, a refugee from Honduras says he originally planned to move to the United States with his family. Trump's election has changed everything. "I wanted to go to the United States with my family, but we've seen that the new government there has made things harder."
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Lingering in Mexico
Concepcion Bautista from Guatemala cradles her newborn son in the same migrant shelter. She says she plans to head for the United States, but will linger in Mexico to see how US President Donald Trump's immigration policies play out. Her goal is to reunite with her family up north...
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
A mere transit country?
…but for the time being, she believes applying for asylum in Mexico is a smarter move. Mexican asylum data and testimony from migrants in Tenosique suggest that although fewer Central Americans are trying to enter the US, plenty are still fleeing their poor, violent home countries, with many deciding to stay longer in Mexico, which has traditionally been a transit country.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Tough immigration policies
The Trump administration has pointed out a sharp decline in immigrant detentions in the first few months of this year as a vindication for the president's tough immigration policies. The measures are already having another effect. In California, where farmers usually rely on workers from Mexico to bring in the harvest, many Mexicans are staying away, preferring to find work in their own country.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Asylum applications on the rise
Migrants from Central America play football in the migrant shelter in Tenosique. The number of people applying for asylum in Mexico has soared by more than 150 percent since Trump was elected president. These days, Mexican immigrants would rather set up in Canada than the United States.
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
Human smugglers up the price
One man from Guatemala says the prices charged by people smugglers have risen sharply since Trump took office, now hovering around $10,000 (9,100 euros), up from about $6,000 a few years ago. Migrants sit below a mural in Mexico with the words: "Our demand is minimal: justice."
Image: Reuters/C. Jasso
A new home
With Mexico's immigration authorities controlling migration more assiduously, Central Americans were forced to take more isolated, dangerous routes where the chances of being mugged were higher. "We've gone north several times, but every time it's got harder," says one man, who was deported from the United States in December. "Now, it's better if we travel alone, along new routes."
