Thanksgiving: Trump threatens to close the US-Mexico border | New policies

By JILL COLVIN, Associated press

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) – President Donald Trump has threatened Thanksgiving to close the US border with Mexico indefinitely if his administration decides that its southern ally has lost "control" on its side.

Trump also said that he had given the thousands of active soldiers that he had sent to the border before the mid-term elections on November 6 the "good one to use deadly force against them." migrants "they owe it. "And he said Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who he blamed for not being tough enough on immigration, was" trying ".

"It's hard work," he said.

The president would not rule out the possibility of a partial closure of the government in early December because of the legislators' refusal to allocate the billions of dollars that he claims for an anti-border wall, pledge central of his 2016 campaign.

"Can there be a closure?" He could certainly, and it will be about border security, which wall is part of, "said Trump.

Trump made these comments during a large question-and-answer session with reporters at his Florida golf club, after expressing his holiday wishes during a phone call with select members of the US Army serving in the whole world.

This conversation arose from an expression of gratitude on the part of the President for his commitment to the protection of the country and his interests, and addressed various political topics, including immigration policy, the Trump's economy and dissatisfaction with the court decisions taken against the initiatives of the administration.

After his speech to the press, Trump quickly moved from one subject to another, from the border and his public dispute with Chief Justice John Roberts to relations with China, to a possible restructuring of staff and cabinet and his defense of Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker.

The threat at the Trump border came a few days after a federal judge suspended the asylum policy of the administration. Under this new policy, Trump said no one could apply for asylum except at an official point of entry at the border. Some ports of entry are already facing huge backups, with people waiting for weeks.

The US government has closed a port of entry, San Ysidro, California, for several hours early Monday morning to increase security against concerns about a potential influx of members of the migrant caravan. Most lanes were reopened before the morning rush hour.

Trump repeated Nielsen's assertion, made earlier this week when she went to a beach on the Pacific coast in San Diego to see a newly installed razor wire wrapped around a rainy day. an imposing boundary wall crossing the sand, according to which the group counted up to 500 criminals and gang members heading north. Nielsen refused to answer questions about how they were identified or about the crimes they had committed.

Trump asserted that there were "fist fights in every street" in Tijuana, Mexico, and that "they are not normal, innocent people".

"They are people you talk to them about and start a fight," he said. "I do not want that in this country."

The people of Tijuana "open their arms" to welcome the caravan, said Trump, and "now they go crazy to get them out … because bad things are happening".

He added that if US officials "find that it's uncontrollable, if we find that we are going to lose control or that people will start to get hurt, we will close the entry into the country for a while." time – we can control it – the whole border. "

In this case, Mexico would suffer an economic shock, he said, citing his inability to ship cars to the United States for sale.

"We will have either a border or we will not have it," Trump said.

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