URGENT ACTION
us - Mexico asylum deal appears unlikely
Diplomatic sources have reported that negotiations to declare Mexico a “safe third country” are off the table. 
In recent weeks, Amnesty International received information from journalists who had interviewed diplomatic sources that indicated that the agreement to declare Mexico a “third safe country” was no longer on the negotiating table between Mexico and the US. This deal would have blocked all asylum seekers passing through Mexico from seeking protection in the US and forced them to stay in dangerous and under-equipped Mexico. Last August, Amnesty International opposed this agreement in an Urgent Action www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr41/8936/2018/en/.
In early October, instead of the “safe third country” agreement, the Trump administration announced the decision to transfer foreign assistance funds from the State Department to the Department of Homeland Security to pay for deportations from Mexico to third countries. This announcement of $20 million dollars in funding has been decried by several congress people and members of civil society.
While the deportation fund is a worrying development, it would appear, for now, that a wider agreement is not an imminent possibility. 

No further action is required of the UA network at this time. Many thanks to all who sent appeals.

This is the first update of AMR 41/8936/2018 Further information: www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr41/8936/2018/en/