President Donald Trump threatened anew to shut down a portion of the southern border on Wednesday after reports that a group of Central Americans traveling north had been partially detained by Mexican officials.
“Mexico must apprehend the remainder or we will be forced to close that section of the Border & call up the Military,” Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning.
The president has threatened to close the southern border or portions of it before. It’s also not the first time he’s placed the responsibility on Mexico to do more to stop people in so-called “caravans” — large groups of migrants traveling north together and largely reported to be mostly women and children from Central America seeking refugee — from arriving at the U.S. border.
A very big Caravan of over 20,000 people started up through Mexico. It has been reduced in size by Mexico but is still coming. Mexico must apprehend the remainder or we will be forced to close that section of the Border & call up the Military. The Coyotes & Cartels have weapons!
Trump largely backed off his most recent calls to close the southern border in early April, instead giving Mexico a one-year warning to apprehend more Central American migrants. At the time, Senate Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, publicly warned the president against acting on his threat. Closing the border would have a “potentially catastrophic economic impact,” McConnell warned.
While shutting down U.S. border crossings would not stop the vast majority of unauthorized arrivals, who mostly cross illegally between border stations, it would halt the flow of trade between the U.S. and Mexico, which totaled $611 billion in 2018, or $1.67 billion per day. More than 40 percent of all fruits and vegetables brought into the U.S. come from Mexico, for example, according to data from the Department of Agriculture.
The dramatic impact of closing just one port was proven in November, when a port in San Diego was ordered closed for six hours to prevent a large group of migrants attempting to cross from Tijuana. The closure cost $5.3 million in lost revenues, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The president’s threat comes on the heels of the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, which led to calls for Trump’s impeachment by some Democrats, including 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren. Most Democratic leaders of the party have said they won’t call for impeachment based on the partially-redacted report and want to first gather more information, including calling on Mueller to testify before Congress.
The president followed with a second tweet about a recent encounter between U.S. and Mexican guards along the border, which CNN first reported last Friday. The president, in his tweet, said Mexican troops “pulled guns” on members of the U.S. National Guard, but according to CNN’s reporting, the situation was more complex. In early April, according to CNN, U.S. troops were questioned by Mexican troops while conducting a surveillance operation on the U.S. side of the southern border. The Mexican officials, who believed the U.S. troops were on the Mexican side of the border, reportedly pointed their weapons at the US troops and removed a soldier’s sidearm, CNN reported. The situation was sorted out after a brief conversation between the troops and the Mexican troops departed, according to CNN.
The president, in his tweet, said the U.S. was “now sending ARMED SOLDIERS soldiers to the border.”
Mexico’s Soldiers recently pulled guns on our National Guard Soldiers, probably as a diversionary tactic for drug smugglers on the Border. Better not happen again! We are now sending ARMED SOLDIERS to the Border. Mexico is not doing nearly enough in apprehending & returning!
There are currently 3,900 active duty forces and 2,100 National Guardsmen serving on the southern border in separate missions, supporting Customs and Border Protection. The troops largely provide additional logistical support to the border mission and do not serve to purport a defensive posture. U.S. troops at the border are not involved in detention operations.
The president’s mention of more troops heading to the border is likely in reference to a request the Department of Defense is expecting from the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan earlier this month told reporters at the Pentagon that U.S. military support at the border was “elastic” and “it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we would provide more support to the border.”
ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Elizabeth McLaughlin, Jordyn Phelps and Quinn Owen contributed to this report.
