MEXICO’S president said on Tuesday that he rejected a request from the United States to set up migrant transit centres in his country.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (Amlo) said that he would prefer to have such centres in countries that are the sources of migration, despite the fact that a considerable number of migrants enter the US from Mexico.

Amlo said that he would raise the subject in a meeting of Latin American leaders later this month, suggesting the countries might agree to a common plan on such sites.

The president said Mexico had not agreed because “first we want to talk to the presidents,” referring to the October 22 meeting with the leaders of 11 countries that are on migration routes.

Representatives from Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, Cuba, Costa Rica, Panama and Belize are expected to attend the meeting in the southern Mexican city of Palenque.

US financed migrant transit centres have been set up in Guatemala to process applications from Central American citizens seeking to apply for work visas, family reunifications or refugee status.

On Monday, the Mexican complained to the US about the closure of some freight or train border crossings because of the large number of migrants gathered on the border.