![Guatemala high court blocks agreement to have migrants apply for asylum there rather than in US](https://www.jurist.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/05/guatemala.jpg)
The Guatemala Constitutional Court granted an injunction Sunday to stop the country’s President, Jimmy Morales, from entering into a proposal with the US that would require migrants from El Salvador and Honduras to apply for asylum in Guatemala instead of in the US.
Morales canceled a trip to Washington, DC, earlier Sunday to let the court rule on the injunction.
The agreement is not popular in Guatemala—the two candidates in the upcoming runoff presidential election and the Catholic Church have both opposed the plan. A lawyer arguing for the injunction stated that the plan is criticized because “Guatemala utterly lacks the institutions able to offer migrants the minimal conditions with respect to human rights.”
Additionally, proponents of the injunction argue that the president does not have the power to sign the agreement. The country’s Constitution, in Article 171, determined that any treaties or international agreements need to be approved by Congress.