El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, will discuss migration with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday in New York, Bukele's office said on Monday, after the two countries outlined an agreement aimed at reducing U.S.-bound migration.
While the deal did not detail concrete actions, officials said it was aimed at expanding El Salvador's capacity to accept asylum seekers.
Bukele, who took office in June, and Trump will be in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. They are also slated to discuss regional security and investment, said a statement from the Salvadoran presidency.
"President Bukele has suggested that the United States could contribute by promoting investment and job creation, so that fewer Salvadorans see the possibility of emigrating to that country as the only way out of their economic problems and lack of opportunities," the statement said.
The Trump administration has also pressed Guatemala and Honduras to strike accords to halt the flow of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, many of whom set out from Central America.
Guatemala has signed a "safe third country" deal that requires asylum seekers passing through the Central American nation to seek refuge there first rather than in the United States. Guatemala's Congress has yet to ratify the deal.
Honduras is in talks with the United States over the possibility of implementing a similar measure for Cuban asylum seekers.
Immigration advocates have criticized the deals, saying Central American countries, from which many people flee violence, poverty and corruption, do not have the capacity to process more asylum claims and cannot assure safety for vulnerable migrants.
