Mexico says migrants have right to seek U.S. asylum, rejects closing border

FILE PHOTO: Migrants, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America en route to the United States, hold flags of Honduras and the United States in front of the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico in Tijuana, Mexico November 25, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Central American migrants have a right to request asylum in the United States and Mexico has repeatedly refused U.S. requests to force them to seek refuge there instead, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Wednesday.

Videgaray, who leaves office at the weekend, said the incoming Mexican government was also not planning to accept U.S. demands that it give asylum to the migrants, thousands of whom have arrived at the U.S.-Mexican border in caravans in recent weeks.