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Trump Threatens to Close Mexican Border Next Week Over Immigration Trump Threatens to Close Mexican Border Next Week Over Immigration
(about 3 hours later)
Lake Okeechobee, Fla. — President Trump on Friday called on Mexico to stop all illegal immigration, escalating a repeated threat by adding a timeline: Mr. Trump said he would close large swaths or all of the southern border as early as “next week” if the Mexican government did not "immediately” stop all undocumented migrants. CANAL POINT, Fla. — The Trump administration confirmed on Friday that it would review ways to reshuffle Border Patrol agents, shut down traffic lanes and close ports of entry at the southwest border. The crackdown would fortify President Trump’s threats to close off access to the United States, but also further jeopardize trade relations with Mexico.
The threat to close the border is one Mr. Trump has made and not followed through on before — he suggested closing it during the December government shutdown, and also earlier this week in accusing Central American governments of squandering American aid. But he has not yet attached a short time frame to taking such a drastic measure. Mr. Trump said in a tweet that he would close large swaths, or all, of the southern border as early as “next week” if the Mexican government did not "immediately” stop all undocumented migrants.
“This would be so easy for Mexico to do,” Mr. Trump said in a string of Twitter posts. “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!” “If they don’t stop it we will keep the border closed,” Mr. Trump said to reporters who had traveled with him to Florida. “And we will keep it stopped for a long time. I’m not playing games.”
The president has also attached this round of threats to increasingly harsher language about the thousands of people who have tried to flee violence and poverty on their way to the United States. The president has been emboldened since the release of a report by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, found that his campaign had not cooperated with the Russian government. He has since escalated criticism against Democrats and the news media; a partisan upholding of his national emergency declaration over a wall at the Southern border has prompted Mr. Trump to ratchet up harsh rhetoric against immigration as he seeks to galvanize supporters ahead of the 2020 election.
The evening before Mr. Trump threatened to close the border, he appeared at a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he went on an extensive and angry screed about immigration, calling the problem an “invasion” and referring to the plight of asylum seekers as a “big fat con job.” As he visited Lake Okeechobee, it was clear Mr. Trump’s mind was not on the scene at hand but on immigration. “How are we doing at the border?” he asked a military official who met him in Central Florida, about 50 miles away from Mar-a-Lago, the president’s winter retreat.
Mr. Trump’s comments about the border come just as the White House is shifting its efforts squarely over to winning 2020 voters. The administration has only a nascent plan for health care, a deciding issue for voters, but the issue of undocumented immigration has always been red meat for his base. Mr. Trump told reporters that he would consider shutting down trade ports along the border, a decision that could imperil the transit of goods between the United States and Mexico. According to government figures, Mexico is the United States’ third largest goods trading partner, with $557.6 billion worth of products flowing across the border in both directions.
It was not clear which parts of the border the president would close if Mr. Trump is not satisfied with the actions Mexico would take to tamp down on illegal border crossings. A move by Mr. Trump to shut down or dramatically curb trade with Mexico would pose significant risks to the American economy. It would also represent a stunning reversal in trade relations between the two countries, which last August put their differences aside to renegotiate their portion of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The new deal, known as the United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement, still needs to be approved by Congress.
Administration officials this week said the situation has become untenable. In a news conference in El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of the federal Customs and Border Protection, said that an influx of migrants had reached a “breaking point.” In his remarks to reporters, the president lamented Mexico making a “fortune” off the United States, and said Mexico’s immigration laws were the “strongest immigration laws of anywhere in the world.” (Mexico is much weaker than the United States at enforcing its border laws.) Mr. Trump also again invoked migrant caravans — one that includes roughly 2,500 people is headed to the United States — as a reason Mexico needed to act.
“We right now have two big caravans coming up from Guatemala, massive caravans, walking right through Mexico,” Mr. Trump said. “Mexico is tough. They can stop them. If they don’t stop them, we’re closing the border.”
Americans would feel the effects in other ways. Border control agencies are already reviewing ways to slow down immigration processing at the border. A senior Homeland Security official confirmed on Friday that shutting down ports of entry along the southwest border is “on the table” to handle the surge in migrants seeking asylum.
Kirstjen Nielsen, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, said in a statement that she had asked volunteers to add more support at the border, and suggested that American citizens may encounter difficulty getting through as a result.
“Make no mistake: Americans may feel effects from this emergency,” Ms. Nielsen said. “As personnel are reallocated to join the crisis-response effort, there may be commercial delays, higher vehicle wait times at the border and longer pedestrian lines.”
She added that “despite these impacts, we cannot shirk our responsibility to the American people to do everything possible to secure our country while also upholding our humanitarian values.”
Stephen H. Legomsky, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said there were a few options available to Mr. Trump if he wanted to move to stop the flow of people at the border, including slowing down processing at ports of entry. The administration has already limited the number of migrants who can apply for asylum each day.
Mr. Legomsky said putting up trade roadblocks and slowing down the processing of people would have harmful effects, both on American citizens who could find themselves “marooned” in Mexico, and on families, including groups of women and children, who are fleeing violence and poverty.
“There’s a huge humanitarian concern,” Mr. Legomsky said. “So many of the people are these Central American mothers and children fleeing from high levels of violence. They would be effectively stuck in the border areas which are also extremely dangerous.”
On Thursday, the president said that he did not share concern over the plight of people in danger. In front of supporters at a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., he used harsh language to describe the thousands of people who have tried to flee violence and poverty, calling the problem an “invasion” and referring to asylum seekers as a “big fat con job.”
In a news conference in El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection, said that an influx of migrants had reached a “breaking point.”
In February, there were 76,000 crossings at the border, which marked an 11-year high and signaled that the Trump administration’s harsher policies have not stopped the flow of people trying to enter the country.In February, there were 76,000 crossings at the border, which marked an 11-year high and signaled that the Trump administration’s harsher policies have not stopped the flow of people trying to enter the country.
The threat to close the border is one Mr. Trump has made previously and but not carried it out. He suggested doing so during the government shutdown this past winter, and repeated it earlier this week in accusing Central American governments of squandering American aid.
But he has not yet attached a deadline by which he would take such a drastic measure, and did not respond to reporters who asked on Friday whether he would set one.
The Homeland Security official said the Trump administration has not yet decided to shut down a major port, but that the department has been forced to divert agents from ports of entries and interior checkpoints to handle large groups of migrants trying to illegally come into the United States, including families.