MEXICO will offer escorted bus rides from its south to the US border for non-Mexican refugees who have received a US asylum appointment, the government announced on Saturday.

The National Immigration Institute said that the buses will leave from the southern cities of Villahermosa and Tapachula. 

It appeared to be an attempt to make applying for asylum appointments from southern Mexico more attractive to those who would otherwise push north to Mexico City or the border.

The announcement came a week after the US government expanded access to the CBP One application to southern Mexico. Access to the app, which allows asylum-seekers to register and await an appointment, had previously been restricted to central and northern Mexico.

The Mexican government wants more people to wait in southern Mexico, farther from the US border. 

Previously, Mexican authorities said they would respect refugees who showed that they had a scheduled asylum appointment at the border, but some reported being swept up at checkpoints and shipped back south, forced to miss their appointments.

Local, state and federal law enforcement will provide security for the buses and meals will be provided during transit, the institute said.

Last week, three migrants were killed and 17 injured when a vehicle slammed into them on a highway in the southern state of Oaxaca.