Donald Trump's message to migrants, from the border with Mexico: "Our country is full, we can not receive them anymore"

US President Donald Trump arrived Friday in the city of Calexico, on the border with Mexico, with a message for immigrants in an irregular situation: The United States is "full".

Trump sees his crusade against the "crisis" at the border as a central axis of the campaign for re-election in 2020 and his trip to Calexico means his message is in the headlines.

"I just arrived in Calexico, California"The US president said on Twitter after arriving in the California city, about 300 km south of Los Angeles, a week after he threatened to close the border.

At a meeting with a border patrol, Trump said that "the system is full".

"We can not receive them (…) our country is full", said the US president, who says that the arrival of migrants and refugees fleeing the border in Central America is a national emergency. "We can not accept them, so I'm sorry but they turn around, it's like that"he said.

On the other side of the border in Mexicali, some 200 people protested against Trump with posters such as "If you build the wall, my generation will throw it" or "Stop separating families".

Trump made a splash Friday in the political and commercial sectors warning Mexico that it would close the common border "next week" and "for a long time" if it did not stop migrant caravans getting heading north.

The president withdrew on Thursday and gave Mexico a year to end drug trafficking at the border before imposing tariffs on their vehicles, though without specifying whether the confinement of undocumented also had this deadline.

A few hours later, Trump returned on Friday to warn reporters that he had not changed his mind, despite the fact that He celebrated on Twitter that Mexico "for the first time in decades makes important arrests of illegal immigrants on its southern border, before migrants begin their long journey to the United States."

"Mexico did a fantastic job over the last four days, they arrested everyone, and yesterday they detained 1,400 people," he said before flying to California. that Twitter has reiterated on Twitter the threat of imposing rights of 25% Mexican Cars in case of non-compliance.

80% of Mexico's car exports, a major pillar of its manufacturing output, are destined for the United States and Canada.

"If it does not work, I will close the border," he threatened, pointing out that he was considering putting in place economic sanctions of an amount of nearly $ 500,000 million for the drug entry to the United States.

On Friday, a group of 20 state attorneys general from different states announced that they had filed an application in a court in Oakland, California, to prevent the misappropriation of $ 1.6 billion federal funds to erect the wall Trump wants to build at the border.

Trump badures that there is a national emergency because of the influx of undocumented immigrants and drugs and that drastic measures are needed, but his threats to close the border have raised concerns even within his own Republican party, which warned of serious economic consequences.

"Closing the border would have a potentially catastrophic impact on our country and I hope it will not do anything," said Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The border between the United States and Mexico is one of the busiest in the world, with daily circulation of hundreds of thousands of people and $ 1,700 million of agricultural, industrial and other consumer products.

Economists, lawmakers and businessmen have said this week that the closure would be an economic earthquake that could lead to thousands of layoffs, leave the supermarket shelves empty in a few days, shut down carmakers and to rot whole consignments of fruits and vegetables.

Since the launch of the North American Trade Treaty in 1994, renegotiated last year at Trump's request, the economies of the three countries are deeply intertwined.

Mexico is the largest source of agricultural imports from the United States, with about 2.7 million metric tons of shipments to the north that feed the country in food during the colder months, during which Consumers can continue to eat watermelons, tomatoes and vegetables. lawyers

From Jérôme Cartillier with Said Betanzos to Mexicali (AFP)