Guatemalan court halts ‘safe third country’ designation for asylum seekers

GUATEMALA CITY, (Reuters) - Guatemala’s Constitutional Court has blocked President Jimmy Morales from immediately declaring the poor Central American nation a safe third country for asylum-seekers, amid growing pushback to U.S. pressure that it absorb large numbers of migrants.

The provisional decision came late on Sunday, hours after the Guatemalan government said it had postponed a planned summit with Trump in Washington to await the court’s ruling. Morales had been widely expected to sign a safe third country agreement at the summit.

The United States wants Guatemala, Mexico and other countries in the region to act as buffer zones, taking in asylum seekers who would otherwise apply in the United States. Such proposals, similar to an arrangement by which Turkey takes in mainly Syrian refugees to lessen flows to the European Union, have been widely criticized as endangering vulnerable migrants.

Guatemala, one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere, has high rates of violence and a weak rule of law. Tens of thousands of its own citizens have sought refuge in the United States this year.

Ramping up the pressure, on Monday, the U.S. government unilaterally declared that all asylum-seekers reaching the U.S. southern border must first request refuge elsewhere. The policy appeared to be another attempt at making Mexico and Guatemala take in most asylumseekers that currently apply in the United States, with or without those countries’ consent.