President Trump on Thursday threatened to shut down the southern border and call up the military if Mexico did not stop a migrant caravan from making its way north into the United States.
“I am watching the Democrat Party led (because they want Open Borders and existing weak laws) assault on our country by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, whose leaders are doing little to stop this large flow of people, INCLUDING MANY CRIMINALS, from entering Mexico to U.S.,” Trump tweeted Thursday morning, referring to the caravan, which is comprised of thousands of migrants seeking asylum in the United States and is currently traveling through Guatemala to get to the country’s border with Mexico.
“….In addition to stopping all payments to these countries, which seem to have almost no control over their population, I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught,” he continued. “[A]nd if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!..”
….In addition to stopping all payments to these countries, which seem to have almost no control over their population, I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught – and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2018
Trump followed up the previous tweet with one labeling the immigrants in the caravan as criminals and drug dealers, and said the border is far more important to him than trade relations with Mexico.
“….The assault on our country at our Southern Border, including the Criminal elements and DRUGS pouring in, is far more important to me, as President, than Trade or the USMCA,” he wrote. “Hopefully Mexico will stop this onslaught at their Northern Border. All Democrats fault for weak laws!”
….The assault on our country at our Southern Border, including the Criminal elements and DRUGS pouring in, is far more important to me, as President, than Trade or the USMCA. Hopefully Mexico will stop this onslaught at their Northern Border. All Democrats fault for weak laws!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2018
Earlier this week, the president threatened to pull foreign aid from the Central American countries from which many of the immigrants in the caravan are from.
Trump tweeted erroneously that his administration would cut funding to places like Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, if they continued to “allow their citizens, or others, to journey through their borders and up to the United States, with the intention of entering our country illegally.”
“[A]ll payments made to them will STOP (END)!” he wrote.
Most of the immigrants in the caravan are fleeing dangerous living situations in their countries of origin and plan to apply for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border through ports of entry, which is an entirely legal and non-criminal act.
In spite of this, Trump tweeted Tuesday that any immigrant entering the country illegally will be “arrested and detained, prior to being sent back to their country.”
Caravan leaders make the journey to the U.S.-Mexico border annually, in order to shepherd migrants seeking a safer or better life through dangerous terrain marked by threats of violence or death.
As ThinkProgress previously noted, many of the migrants’ home countries are afflicted by war, natural disaster, or severe poverty, forcing them to flee. Two of them, El Salvador and Honduras, were previously granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by the United States, which provides sanctuary from such conditions, though the latter’s protections will end in 2020. TPS designations are still in place for El Salvador, as well as a handful of other countries.