President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to close the nation’s border with Mexico — or large sections of it — next week, if Mexico does not halt illegal immigration at once.
“It could mean [stopping] all trade” with Mexico, Trump said when questioned by reporters in Florida. “We will close it for a long time. I am not kidding around.”
Trump has previously threatened to close the border — including at a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Thursday night — but this was different, since he gave a timetable.
….through their country and our Southern Border. Mexico has for many years made a fortune off of the U.S., far greater than Border Costs. If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States throug our Southern Border, I will be CLOSING…..
….the Border, or large sections of the Border, next week. This would be so easy for Mexico to do, but they just take our money and “talk.” Besides, we lose so much money with them, especially when you add in drug trafficking etc.), that the Border closing would be a good thing!
A senior Homeland Security official on Friday suggested Trump was referring to the ongoing surge of mostly Central American families crossing the border from Mexico, though many of them request asylum under U.S. law.
Those seeking asylum are not deemed illegal simply by their arrival.
The official said the U.S. might close designated ports of entry to re-deploy staff to help process parents and children.
Ports of entry are official crossing points used by residents and commercial vehicles. The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, did not specify which ports the administration was considering closing, saying only that closures were “on the table.”
Mexico’s foreign affairs secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, responded to Trump in a tweet of his own.
México no actúa con base en amenazas.Somos un gran vecino. Díganlo si no el millón y medio de estadounidenses que eligieron a nuestro país como hogar, la más grande comunidad de ese origen fuera de EU. Para ellos también somos el mejor vecino que pudieron tener.
“Mexico does not act on the basis of threats. We are a great neighbour,” he tweeted in Spanish. “(Ask) the million and a half Americans who chose our country as their home, the largest community of (Americans) outside the U.S. For them, we are also the best neighbour they could have.”
Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the United States have fought over whether there actually is a “crisis” at the border, particularly amid Trump’s push for a border wall, which he claims will solve immigration problems.
Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said Thursday the immigration system is cracking under the strain.
Central American migrants, part of the caravan hoping to reach the U.S. border, advance on a road in Tapachula, Mexico, on March 28. (Isabel Mateos/The Associated Press)
The president called on Congress to immediately change what he said were weak U.S. immigration laws, which he blamed on Democrats.
Arrests all along the southern border have skyrocketed in recent months. Border agents are on track to make 100,000 arrests and denials of entry there this month, more than half of them families with children.
To manage the crush, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is reassigning 750 border inspectors from their usual duties at the ports of entry to help Border Patrol keep pace with arrivals in between ports of entry. The head of the agency held a press conference in El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday to say the breaking point had arrived.
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