The Tump administration has confirmed efforts to make good on Donald Trump's Friday morning threat that he will be "CLOSING" the southern border if Mexico doesn't "immediately stop ALL illegal immigration" into the U.S.
“If they don’t stop it we will keep the border closed,” Trump told reporters traveling with him in Florida. “And we will keep it stopped for a long time. I’m not playing games.”
The move comes in response to a new influx of migrants at the border, including an 11-year high of 76,000 crossings last month, according to Customs and Border Patrol.
The administration may redeploy Border Patrol agents who have been helping to process the sudden spike of migrants crossing the border. Officials might also bar traffic from going between the two countries along with shutting down ports of entry, which in turn could interrupt the flow of trade between the U.S. and Mexico.
Though officials from both countries have tried too look past Trump's continued border rants in order to salvage trade relations, Trump's latest turn could jeopardize the relationship and "pose significant risks to the American economy," according to the New York Times. The United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement the Trump administration negotiated to replace NAFTA still hasn't been approved by Congress.
But Trump continues to insist that Mexico is squeezing a "fortune" out of the U.S., a sentiment he both tweeted and reiterated to reporters at a Friday afternoon press conference.
"They just take our money and 'talk,'" Trump groused on twitter.