Trump Threatens to Close Entire Border With Mexico

'The whole border'
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 22, 2018 12:00 PM CST
Trump Threatens to Close Entire Border With Mexico
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters following his teleconference with troops from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Trump on Thursday threatened to close the entire border with Mexico if the "bad situation" becomes "uncontrollable," reports the AP. He was referencing the migrant caravan located in Tijuana in his conversation with reporters, in which he said if it "gets to a level where we’re going to lose control or people are going to start getting hurt, we will close entry into the country for period of time until we can get it under control. The whole border." Trump also said this has actually already happened, in what the Hill reports was an apparent reference to traffic lanes near a port of entry in San Diego being closed.

"Two days ago, we closed the border. We actually just closed it. We said, 'Nobody’s coming in.' Because it’s out of control." Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen earlier this week explained the closures by saying a group of migrants had intended to "rush the border." As for Trump's Thursday comments, he also added that he has authorized US troops to use force against migrants if needed. "I hope they don't have to," he says, but he "had no choice" because "you're dealing with rough people." (More President Trump stories.)

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