In the latest response to the coronavirus crisis, President Trump said he will stop nonessential traffic on the border with Mexico.
The U.S. and Mexico have agreed to restrict all nonessential travel across their shared border in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, President Trump said Friday, adding that he was invoking the Defense Production Act to increase output of badly needed medical supplies.
Under the new rules, the Border Patrol will begin returning all undocumented immigrants directly to Mexico or Canada when they are caught at the border, rather than detaining them in the U.S., said Chad Wolf, acting secretary of Homeland Security. As it did Thursday, the White House briefing turned testy as the president, who just days earlier called for national unity, went on multiple diatribes against members of the news media after being pressed on questions about his response to the crisis.
"Essential commercial activities will not be impacted," Wolf added, noting that the restrictions, which affect crossing of the land borders, were not intended to deter trade. The restrictions, however, will clearly affect the economies of border communities, which depend heavily on cross-border traffic.
Trump said he had ordered the Defense Production Act into use Thursday night, contradicting an account offered by Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, who said Trump had made the order while the two were on the telephone Friday morning. Even a partial closure of the border, however, was likely to affect Mexico's struggling economy. Mexico posted near-flat growth last year and now appears headed for recession, analysts say. This week, the peso tumbled to a historical low amid growing concerns about the impact of the virus and a related dip in oil prices.
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