President Donald Trump is demanding that Mexico must stop all illegal immigrants from entering the U.S. at the southern border or he says he will close ‘large sections’ of it next week.
Trump brandished the threat both online and while touring infrastructure in Florida. ‘They don’t stop it, we’re closing the border,’ Trump told reporters.
‘We’ll keep it closed for a long time. I’m not playing games. Mexico has to stop it. They have people coming right through Mexico,’ Trump said.
The president issued his demand while also calling on Congress to change the nation’s ‘weak’ immigration laws ‘NOW.’
‘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 parts of it – next week, Trump threatened on Twitter Friday.
The president’s demand for legislation came just a day after his Homeland Security Secretary sent a letter to Congress outlining the ‘urgent situation’ at the border and seeking legislative changes.
President Donald Trump is threatening to close the border next week if Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ‘ALL illegal immigration’ at the southern border
‘The DEMOCRATS have given us the weakest immigration laws anywhere in the World,’ Trump complained in a trio of tweets Friday fired off from Florida.
‘Mexico has the strongest, & they make more than $100 Billion a year on the U.S. Therefore, CONGRESS MUST CHANGE OUR WEAK IMMIGRATION LAWS NOW, & Mexico must stop illegals from entering the U.S…through their country and our Southern Border,’ he wrote.
President Trump brandished his border threat in a trio of tweets
Trump also complained about trade, having already reached an agreement to make changes to NAFTA that was agreed to by Canada and Mexico but has not gone through the Senate.
‘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 [through] our Southern Border, I will be CLOSING…the Border, or large sections of the Border, next week,’ Trump threatened, accidentally misspelling ‘through.’
‘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!’ Trump added.
Migrants awaiting processing are held in temporary fencing underneath the Paso Del Norte Bridge on March 28, 2019 in El Paso, Texas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has temporarily closed all highway checkpoints along the 268-mile stretch of border in the El Paso sector to try to stem a surge in illegal entry
EL PASO, TX – MARCH 28: Migrants awaiting processing are held in temporary fencing underneath the Paso Del Norte Bridge on March 28, 2019 in El Paso, Texas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has temporarily closed all highway checkpoints along the 268-mile stretch of border in the El Paso sector to try to stem a surge in illegal entry
A tent is pictured at an improvised shelter under the Santa Fe international bridge, which connects Ciudad Juarez to El Paso, in El Paso, Texas, U.S. March 16, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
A tent is pictured at an improvised shelter under the Santa Fe international bridge, which connects Ciudad Juarez to El Paso, in El Paso, Texas, U.S. March 16, 2019
Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of Homeland Security wrote Congress asking for changes to immigration laws
Trump talked up the need for health care and immigration action during a meeting with GOP senators this week, but no reports emerged of his imminent threat to close the border.
The president told lawmakers he believes the conclusion of the Mueller report gives him a fresh start.
Trump also fired up supporters in Michigan Thursday when speaking about immigration, while attacking Democrats.
‘Democrats want to pretend there is no border crisis, for one simple reason: because they have caused the border crisis. And you know why else, honestly? Because they want votes, and because they don’t want to give us a win. They don’t want to give us a win,’ Trump told a crowd in Grand Rapids.
‘They put that ahead of what’s good for our country. The mass illegal immigration across our border is a direct consequence of Democrat-supported loopholes. Democrat promises of amnesty, amnesty! You have people coming up, you know, they’re all met by the lawyers. They come out, they’re all met by the lawyers come and and they say, ‘Say the following phrase: I’m very afraid for my life. I am afraid for my life!’ Okay, and then I look at the guy, he looks like he just got out of the ring, he’s the heavyweight champion of the world.’
He continued: ‘It’s a big, fat con job, folks. It’s a big fat con job. And Democrat sanctuary cities and their refusal to protect American borders, it’s not the money. When I fought for them recently, they gave me so much money for everything else, but nothing for the wall. Now think of it. Walls work, folks. We need the wall. They said, ‘Would you call it slats?’ I said, ‘I’ll call it slats.’ ‘Will you call it steel barriers?’ I said, ‘I will call it whatever the hell you want. Just give me the money.’ Then they got cold feet.’
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has written Congress saying there is an urgent situation at the border seeking legal changes to allow for quicker deportations of unaccompanied children.
Nielsen wrote in her letter that U.S. facilities are approaching maximum capacity to hold and process immigrants.
Trump also spoke about immigration at his rally in Michigan Thursday night
‘We are increasingly unable to uphold that responsibility,’ she wrote the House and the Senate, calling the size of vulnerable populations ‘unsustainable.’
‘We are grappling with a humanitarian and security catastrophe that is worsening by the day, and the Department has run out of capacity,’ she added, in a letter addressed to congressional leaders and the heads of key committees.
Nielsen said facilities operated by the Health and Human Services Department are ‘still approaching its maximum capacity and will very likely require thousands of additional beds in the coming weeks and months.’
She described a ‘system-wide meltdown,’ with 1,200 unaccompanied children in Customs and Border Protection custody.
By law, the children must be transferred to HHS care, however those facilities are at ‘peak capacity,’ she wrote.
‘The result is that hundreds of Central American children come into our custody each day, await transfer to (Health and Human Services) care, and, ultimately are placed with a sponsor in the United States,’ she wrote