Trump Gives Mexico Deadline to Stop Illegal Crossings

Unless Mexico puts an immediate halt to illegal crossings into the US, President Trump said Friday, at least parts of the border will be closed as early as next week. Trump likewise threatened to close the border near the end of last year but didn't, the Hill points out. In a series of tweets, Trump blamed Democrats for what he called the world's "weakest immigration laws," and said "Congress must change" the laws now. He said Mexico has the strongest and makes "more than $100 billion a year on the U.S."

Trump and his administration have stepped up warnings recently that there's a crisis at the southern border. On Thursday, the head of Customs and Border Protection said that illegal border crossings were at a breaking point, and that agents are having to free hundreds of people at a time in Yuma, Arizona, and El Paso, Texas. In February, the Times reports, there were 76,000 crossings at the border, which was an 11-year high. Stopping the crossings, Trump tweeted, "would be so easy for Mexico to do." It's not clear, CNN reports, whether the closing would apply only to individuals or would include trains and trucks carrying goods back and forth. That could cause major trade problems. (The Pentagon has approved the transfer of $1 billion to build part of a border wall.)