PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump declared on Friday that he is likely to close America’s southern border next week unless Mexican authorities immediately halt all illegal immigration.
Such a severe move could hit the economies of both countries.
“I am not kidding around,” Mr. Trump said. “It could mean all trade” with Mexico. “We will close it for a long time.”
The President has been promising for more than two years to build a wall along the border to stop illegal immigration.
Congress has been reluctant to provide the money he needs for the wall.
In the meantime, he has threatened to close the border.
This time, with a new surge of migrants heading north, he gave a definite timetable.
A substantial closure could have a heavy impact on cross-border communities from San Diego to Texas, as well as supermarkets that sell Mexican produce, factories that rely on imported parts, and other businesses across the United States.
The United States and Mexico trade about $1.7 billion in goods daily, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Chamber officials said closing the border would be “an unmitigated economic debacle” that would threaten 5 million American jobs.
“If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States through our Southern Border, I will be CLOSING the border, or large sections of the border, next week,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter.
In Florida, he didn’t qualify his threat with “or large sections.”
“There is a very good likelihood I’ll be closing the border next week, and that is just fine with me,” he said.
He said several times that it would be “so easy” for Mexican authorities to stop immigrants passing through their country and trying to enter the U.S. illegally, “but they just take our money and ‘talk.’”
Mr. Trump blamed Mexico for a growing flow of “illegals” entering the United States and cited two large migrant caravans making their way toward the U.S. border.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen suggested Mr. Trump was referring to a surge of mostly Central American families heading north through Mexico.
Many people who cross the border illegally ultimately request asylum under U.S. law, which does not require asylum seekers to enter at an official crossing.
Short of a widespread shutdown, Ms. Nielsen said the United States might close designated ports of entry to redeploy staff to help process parents and children.
Ports of entry are official crossing points that are used by residents and commercial vehicles.
“If we have to close ports to take care of all of the numbers who are coming, we will do that,” she said. “So it’s on the table, but what we’re doing is a very structured process based on operational needs.”
The White House did not respond to questions about whether Mr. Trump’s possible action would apply to air travel.
Mr. Trump made the latest declarations after Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said his country was doing its part to fight migrant smuggling.
Criminal networks charge thousands of dollars a person to move migrants through Mexico, increasingly in large groups toward remote sections of the border.
“We want to have a good relationship with the government of the United States,” Mr. Lopez Obrador said Friday.
“We are going to continue helping so that the migratory flow, those who pass through our country, do so according to the law, in an orderly way,” he said.
Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign relations secretary, wrote on Twitter that his country “doesn’t act based on threats” and is “the best neighbor” the United States could have.
Customs and Border Protection commissioner Kevin McAleenan said Wednesday that 750 border inspectors would be reassigned to deal with the growing number of migrant families.
First Published March 30, 2019, 3:13 a.m.
