Mexico considers bringing Mexican asylum seekers sent to Guatemala back home: interior minister

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico is evaluating bringing Mexican asylum seekers who are sent from the United States to Guatemala back to Mexico, Interior Minister Olga Sanchez told Reuters.

Under U.S. rules made public this month, Mexicans requesting protection at the U.S.-Mexican border can be flown to Guatemala to seek refuge there instead.

Mexico has criticized the measure and outgoing Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said on Wednesday that his administration has not agreed to accept Mexican asylum seekers.

But if Mexicans are to be sent to Guatemala, the Mexican government will help them make their way home, Sanchez said in an interview late on Wednesday.

“It seems more logical that they wait for their asylum process in their own country,” Sanchez told Reuters.

(Reporting by Diego Ore; writing by Julia Love; editing by Drazen Jorgic and Steve Orlofsky)