BORDER LINE

Mexico Agrees to Keep Asylum Seekers South of the Border

The plan, not yet official, would require asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while their status is adjudicated in the U.S.

Officials in Mexico’s incoming administration have agreed to a plan that will require asylum seekers fleeing Central America for the United States to wait across the border while their claims are evaluated and processed, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. “For now, we have agreed to this policy of Remain in Mexico,” Olga Sánchez Cordero, Mexico’s incoming interior minister, told the Washington Post, calling the proposal a “short-term solution.” President Donald Trump, whose numerous attempts to curtail both legal and illegal immigration into the United States have faced frequent—and often successful—legal challenges, tweeted on Saturday that “All [migrants] will stay in Mexico,” before threatening that he is willing to close the U.S. border “if for any reason it becomes necessary.” Representatives for the American Civil Liberties Union declared that the proposal, which is still unofficial and lacking in detail, will likely exacerbate existing human rights issues facing vulnerable migrants at the border.