Mexico turns down U.S. request for migrant transit centers, blames other countries for crisis

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced Tuesday he declined a request from the United States to establish migrant transit centers in his country.

Guatemala, which borders Mexico to the south has already established one such transit center, enabling traveling migrants to apply for U.S. work and refugee visas, more than a thousand miles from the southwest border.

López Obrador said he believes it makes more sense to have transit centers first set up in other countries where the migrants are coming from, inferring that most of the migrants are coming from neighboring countries to the south of Mexico.

While Venezuela has proven to be the main source for the influx of refugees headed toward the U.S. to seek asylum, statistics have shown that there are still a high number of Mexican migrants trying to enter the U.S. at the southern border.

The Mexican president said he would continue to explore the issue in an upcoming meeting with other Latin American leaders scheduled for later this month.

López Obrador then suggested the possibility of creating a joint cooperation agreement of some sort on transit centers at the upcoming Oct. 22 meeting, which will be held with leaders of 11 countries that are on migration routes.

“We have been looking at setting up sites in Mexico, because they (the United States) have asked for it,” the Mexican president said. “We have not accepted it, first we want to talk to the presidents.”

The Oct. 22 meeting, which is being held in the southern Mexico city of Palenque will include leaders from  Belize, Cuba, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Panama and Venezuela.

The migrant transit center in Guatemala was financed by the United States and was set up to accept applications from Latin American citizens seeking to apply for refugee status as well as work visas and family reunifications.

The transit centers are part of a broader strategy aimed at lowering the influx of migrants from Central and South American countries and others from the Caribbean who are committed to migrating to the United States.

The U.S. is currently planning to open eight such centers in Guatemala.

While the U.S. is seeking López Obrador’s help in curbing the migration crisis, the problem has effected both countries and increased political tensions between the Mexican government and U.S. immigration officials.

Earlier this week on Monday, Mexico complained about the closure of the U.S. decision to close some train border crossings in an effort to quell migrant crossings at the border.

Mexico also complained about recent truck inspections in Texas at border crossings.

On Sept. 19, the Texas Department of Public Safety conceded it had started “enhanced commercial vehicle safety inspections” for trucks crossing at the border, all part of an effort “to deter the placement of migrants and other smuggling activity” and detect unsafe vehicles.

So far, 19,000 trucks carrying about $1.9 billion in goods have been delayed at the border, according to Mexico’s national freight transport chamber.

López Obrador said Monday that Gov. Greg Abbott was being “very irresponsible” and accused the Lonestar governor of using the crisis to gain political clout in his state.