Mick Mulvaney address President Trump's threat to close the US-Mexico border.
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has suggested that President Trump intends to close the border with Mexico unless "something dramatic" happens.
He made the comment during an interview that aired Sunday on ABC News' "This Week" after host Jonathan Karl asked, "The president threatened closing, shutting down entirely the Mexican border as soon as this upcoming week. He obviously made the same threat back in December. What would it take for him not to do that this week?"
Mulvaney responded: "Something dramatic."
"Why are we talking about closing the border?" he went on to say. "To simply say look, we need the people from the ports of entry to go out and patrol in the desert where we don't have any wall."
"We need border security and we're going to do the best we can with what we have," he added. "The Democrats will not give us any additional money to do this, they won't give us any additional people, and importantly, they will not change the law that is acting as this giant magnet for people from South and Central America to come into this country. Faced with those limitations, the president will do everything he can. If closing the ports of entry mean that, that's exactly what he intends to do."
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway echoed Mulvaney's remarks on "Fox News Sunday," saying about Trump's threat to close the border, "It certainly isn't a bluff. You can take the president seriously."
Trump has issued the warning in multiple tweets.
"Mexico must use its very strong immigration laws to stop the many thousands of people trying to get into the USA," he wrote Sunday. "Our detention areas are maxed out & we will take no more illegals. Next step is to close the Border! This will also help us with stopping the Drug flow from Mexico!"
