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Guatemalan Court Halts 'Safe Third Country' Designation for Asylum-Seekers

Reuters

   GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemala's Constitutional Court has blocked President
   Jimmy Morales from immediately declaring the poor Central American
   nation a safe third country for asylum-seekers, amid growing pushback
   to U.S. pressure that it absorb large numbers of migrants.

   The provisional decision came late Sunday, hours after the Guatemalan
   government said it had postponed a planned summit with President Donald
   Trump in Washington to await the court's ruling. Morales had been
   widely expected to sign a safe third country agreement at the summit.

   The United States wants Guatemala, Mexico and other countries in the
   region to act as buffer zones, taking in asylum-seekers who would
   otherwise apply in the United States. Such proposals, similar to an
   arrangement by which Turkey takes in mainly Syrian refugees to lessen
   flows to the European Union, have been widely criticized as endangering
   vulnerable migrants.

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