Guatemala's president-elect says asylum deal made with U.S. is off the table

Guatemala is struggling to provide for its own people, president-elect Alejandro Giammattei said Tuesday, and there's no way the country will be able to support an influx of migrants.

During an interview with The Associated Press, Giammattei said the immigration agreement cobbled together in July by outgoing President Jimmy Morales and the Trump administration just won't work. Under the deal, migrants who cross into Guatemala on their way to the United States must apply for asylum there first; only if they are denied can they go on and request asylum in the U.S.

"In order to be a safe country, one has to be certified as such by an international body, and I do not think Guatemala fulfills the requirements to be a third safe country," Giammattei said. "That definition doesn't fit us. If we do not have the capacity for our own people, just imagine other people." Guatemalans are leaving the country in droves, escaping poverty and crime, and critics say it makes no sense to have people apply for asylum there. The deal was forged after the Trump administration threatened Guatemala with taxes.

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Giammattei, a conservative, won a runoff election over the weekend, and will take office on Jan. 14, 2020. He told AP the way things are now, he has no reason to believe that undocumented migrants will stay away from the United States. "I do not think physical walls, or walls of weapons, can stop migration," he said. "I think what can stop migration are walls of opportunities."