Mexico stands against new US restrictions on asylum seekers, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said during a press conference in Mexico City on Tuesday.
According to the new rule, which was announced by the Trump administration on Monday, migrants seeking asylum in the US would have to first apply for protection from any country they pass through as opposed to at the US border.
“This rule is a limitation on the right of asylum with which Mexico does not agree. We have a totally opposite legal principle that is political asylum in Mexico,” he said.
On whether the new measures would mean that Mexico was now designated as a safe third country, Ebrard replied that it was not.
“The third safe country also requires that Mexico agree and that an agreement with legal effects be passed by the Congress of the Union so they cannot take it unilaterally, it is bilateral,” he said.
The new restrictions would affect most Central American asylum-seekers arriving through Mexico, most of whom come from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.