Policy change is part of the Trump administration’s controversial efforts to tighten US immigration laws to let in fewer immigrants

The United States will soon begin returning individuals who unlawfully cross the US southern border back to Mexico to wait there while their immigration cases proceed, the homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, said on Thursday.

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The policy change also covers claims for political asylum and is part of the Trump administration’s controversial efforts to tighten US immigration laws to let in fewer immigrants seeking to enter both legally and illegally.

“Aliens trying to game the system to get into our country illegally will no longer be able to disappear into the United States, where many skip their court dates,” Nielsen said in a statement. “Instead, they will wait for an immigration court decision while they are in Mexico.”

In response, Mexico’s foreign ministry underscored that it still has the right to admit or reject the entry of foreigners into its territory.

“Mexico’s government has decided to take the following actions to benefit migrants, in particular unaccompanied and accompanied minors, and to protect the rights of those who want to start an asylum process in the United States,” the ministry stated.

The ministry added that the actions taken by the Mexican and US governments do not constitute a “safe third country” scheme, where migrants would have to request US asylum while in Mexico.

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Donald Trump tweeted on 24 November that migrants at the US-Mexico border would have to stay in Mexico until their asylum claims were individually approved in US courts, a break with normal procedure.

Mexico’s new president, Andrés Manuel Lopéz Obrador, took office on 1 December. The arrival of several thousand Central Americans in Mexico’s border city of Tijuana about a month ago prompted Trump to mobilize the US military to beef up border security, while restricting the number of asylum applications accepted per day.

This has caused huge backlogs and confusion at the border on the Mexican side. The US shot teargas canisters at migrants last month in a further display of militarization and hostility towards those trying to enter the US, whether in search of economic opportunity or sanctuary from persecution and violence.

Unlawful crossings at the southern border have dropped dramatically since the late 1970s, but in recent years applications for asylum have ballooned and more Central American families and unaccompanied children are migrating to the US.