The Trump administration doubled down on its threat to shut the US’s southern border with Mexico on Sunday, a day after the State Department cut aid to three Central American countries that President Trump accused of deliberately sending migrants to the States.
Trump himself tweeted the following last night:
Faced with a surge of asylum seekers from Central American countries who travel through Mexico, Trump said on Friday there was a “good likelihood” he would close the border this coming week if Mexico does not stop unauthorised immigrants from reaching the US.
Without providing evidence, he also accused the nations of having “set up” migrant caravans and sending them north. The president last raised the issue of refugee convoys ahead of November’s midterms, when he spread unsubstantiated claims to demonise a group crossing Mexico from Honduras to ensure border security led the national political agenda as voters headed for the ballot box.
Speaking to ABC’s This Week show, White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said the president had few other options in the absence of any support from Democrats for more border security or legislative action to change the immigration law.
“Faced with those limitations, the president will do everything he can. If closing the ports of entry means that, that’s exactly what he intends to do,” Mulvaney said. “We need border security and we’re going to do the best we can with what we have.”
White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News Sunday that the situation at the border was at “melting point” and said the president was serious in his threat. “It certainly is not a bluff. You can take the president seriously.”
Neither Trump aide offered any specific details or timeline for the potential border shutdown, however.
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