Yet one might well as ask what Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has to gain by agreeing to carry out his side of the policy, namely accepting thousands of asylum-seekers into Mexican border towns to await their day in a US court. On the surface, he has added a more humanitarian veneer to the policy, tying down a timeline of 180 days in which asylum cases should be heard and development funds for Central America under the name “Planting Opportunities”. But in reality, this is a political risk he can afford to take.