Exclusive: Mexico opposes U.S. plan to make it take asylum seekers - document, source

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico is opposed to a U.S. request to make people seeking asylum in the United States apply in Mexico instead, according to a source and a briefing note, in a setback to U.S. efforts to deepen cooperation on immigration before a leftist president takes office.

U.S. officials believe a deal known as a “Safe Third Country Agreement,” could prove a deterrent to thousands of Central Americans who travel through Mexico each year to seek U.S. asylum, clogging immigration courts and causing a headache for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

Yet despite growing U.S. pressure for it to accept the treaty, Mexico views the proposal as a red line it will not cross, according to the briefing note prepared for Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray for a meeting he had with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in Guatemala on Tuesday.

“Mexico is not in the position to accept a safe third country agreement, as the United States has proposed on previous occasions,” the note says.