Mexico mulls letting migrants stay while U.S. weighs asylum
MEXICO CITY — Leaders of the incoming Mexican government are in talks with U.S. officials to allow migrants applying for asylum in the United States to remain in Mexico while they await a decision — a drastic overhaul of policy that President Donald Trump suggested Saturday night was as good as a done deal.
While Mexican officials said no decision has been made, leaders of the incoming government are under immense pressure to deal with thousands of migrants lined up along the border between the two countries. The top officials of the incoming Mexican administration plan to meet as early as Sunday to discuss the proposal, according to the incoming foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, who will take office on Dec. 1.
A decision to allow the migrants to stay inside Mexico while awaiting word from U.S. courts would be a sharp reversal of the policy, which allows asylum-seekers to remain in the United States until their petition is resolved.
The Trump administration has reviled this as a “catch and release” policy that migrants often abuse by skipping court proceedings and vanishing inside the United States. The administration, which has bitterly complained that Congress has not addressed the issue, has been pressing the Mexican government for months to help.
“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 said in a tweet.
“… All will stay in Mexico. If for any reason it becomes necessary, we will CLOSE our Southern Border. There is no way that the United States will, after decades of abuse, put up with the costly and dangerous situation anymore!” Trump added.
While Trump spoke with certainty, senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security said many logistical questions remained unanswered. The plan was also expected to face immediate legal challenges, which government lawyers were preparing to defend once it is formally announced.
Over the last several months, the number of migrants at the border has surged as Central Americans and others fleeing violence and poverty are trapped in a processing bottleneck with U.S. border officials. As thousands await entry to begin the asylumseeking process, migrant shelters and local and state resources in Mexico have been overwhelmed.
Discussions have been ongoing for several months on how to deal with the backlog. Ebrard said Saturday that no decision had been reached about how to manage the crowds of migrants along the border.
The issue has become more urgent in recent weeks as the number of migrants at certain border crossings has risen sharply. Many have traveled in caravanstyle groups of a few thousand.
On Friday, the mayor of Tijuana, Juan Manuel Gastélum, declared a humanitarian crisis in the city and said he would request assistance from the United Nations to ease the burden of sheltering, feeding and clothing the migrants.
According to a U.S. official with knowledge of the proposal, migrants would come to the U.S. ports of entry to apply for asylum and be interviewed. If they can establish a credible fear of returning to their home countries, they would be given a court date and then return to Mexico to await that date.
But because of the backlog in the immigration courts — about 1 million cases — these individuals would most likely wait for years in Mexico.
“What exists is a conversation about what do to with 9,000 people that are going to remain in Tijuana for a year,” said Ebrard, who acknowledged the discussions were ongoing. “What we are trying to think about is how to organize this, but we still have not found the response.”
Sunday’s meeting is to include Ebrard; incoming Interior Minister Olga Sánchez Cordero, and other top officials in the government of President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
News of the proposal was first reported by the Washington Post, which quoted Sánchez Cordero as saying an agreement between the United States and the incoming Mexican government had been reached. But later Saturday, Sánchez Cordero issued a statement saying there was no decision regarding the use of Mexico as a holding area for asylum applicants to the United States.