U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that migrants seeking asylum in the United States via the southern border will wait in Mexico while their claims are moving through legal procedures.
"Migrants at the Southern Border will not be allowed into the United States until their claims are individually approved in court," he tweeted Saturday evening. "All will stay in Mexico."
The president also renewed a threat to close the U.S.-Mexico border "if for any reason it becomes necessary."
The tweets came after The Washington Post reported earlier in the day that Mexico's incoming government has agreed to support the U.S. government's plan to remake U.S. asylum policy.
The newspaper said the plan, known as "Remain in Mexico", would require those seeking refuge at the border to stay in Mexico while their cases are processed, potentially terminating the system, which Trump has decried as "Catch and Release" that has generally allowed asylum applicants to wait on U.S. soil.
"For now, we have agreed to this policy of Remain in Mexico," said Olga Sanchez Cordero, Mexico's incoming Interior Minister, who will take office next month.
But she called it a "short-term solution" in an interview with the U.S. newspaper.
