Washington – The White House reiterated on Sunday that US President Donald Trump will close the border with Mexico next week to stop the arrival of immigrants to the United States and regardless of the economic consequences for the country.
Speaking to ABC, the acting chief of staff of the White House, Mick Mulvaney, said that only “something dramatic” would make the president not close the border.
Mulvaney considered that “Mexico could be doing more” to stop the caravans of migrants crossing their territory to the United States. and he said that the countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador) could also take “more” measures.
“We give these countries hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and we need them to do more,” said Mulvaney, who defended Trump’s decision to suspend all assistance to these three countries.
On Saturday, the State Department announced that it had officially announced Trump’s decision to Congress, the body that has the final word on aid for those three countries, from which most of the migrants arriving in the United States come, including children and entire families.
Mulvaney argued that the president does not have many options to face the “crisis” of the border due to the rejection of the Democrats to the wall with Mexico.
“We face these limitations, the president will do everything he can, if that means closing the entry points, that is exactly what we will do,” he warned.
Closing the border could have negative consequences not only for migrants seeking asylum, but also for trade between Mexico and the United States.
Mexico is the third largest trading partner of the United States. and only in the port of the city of Calexico (California) each day about 1,000 trucks cross, while through Laredo (Texas) about 11 freight trains pass each day, according to data from the US Department of Transportation and Commerce. .
Only in 2017, the services and goods that the US exchanged with Mexico had a value of over 615,000 million dollars, according to the aforementioned sources.
Asked about this commercial exchange in another interview with CNN, Mulvaney acknowledged that the US he is worried about the effects that closing the border can have on his economy.
However, he added: “We are also concerned about the impact on the US economy and the nation of the entry of more than 100,000 people illegally this month.”
The Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) estimates that this month the number of people detained for illegally crossing the border could reach 100,000.
In February, border authorities detained 76,000 migrants. (EFEUSA)
