Published on 12:00 AM, November 26, 2018

US-BOUND MIGRANT CARAVAN

Trump, Mexico at odds over deal

US President Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday that migrants at the US-Mexico border would stay in Mexico until their asylum claims were individually approved in US courts, but Mexico's incoming government denied they had struck any deal.

Mexico's incoming interior minister said there was "no agreement of any type between the future government of Mexico and the United States."

Olga Sanchez Cordero, also the top domestic policy official for president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who takes office on December 1, told Reuters that the incoming government was in talks with the United States but emphasised that they could not make any agreement since they were not yet in government.

Sanchez ruled out that Mexico would be declared a "safe third country" for asylum claimants, following a Washington Post report of a deal with the Trump administration known as "Remain in Mexico," which quoted her calling it a "short-term solution."

The plan, according to the newspaper, foresees migrants staying in Mexico while their asylum claims in the United States are being processed, potentially ending a system Trump decries as "catch and release" that has until now often allowed those seeking refuge to wait on safer US soil.

"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 US," Trump said in a tweet late Saturday.