White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday that Democrats are “leaving us no choice” in a decision to close the southern border.
After President Trump repeated his threat last week to shut down immigration entirely between the U.S. and Mexico, Sanders said on Fox News that Trump doesn’t want to take that action but that Democrats are forcing his hand.
“Democrats in Congress are leaving us no choice. This is not the path the president wants to take, but they’re leaving us no choice because they’re unwilling to work with us to fix the problem,” Sanders said.
.@PressSec says @realDonaldTrump is serious about closing the southern border.
“Democrats in Congress are leaving us no choice. This is not the path the president wants to take, but they’re leaving us no choice because they’re unwilling to work with us to fix the problem.” pic.twitter.com/UTRuBMaZvb
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 2, 2019
Sanders argued Trump is not using talk of a closure as a threat, but is rather trying to protect the lives of U.S. citizens.
Sanders said Mexico’s assistance is a big factor in the border dispute, noting that Mexico needs to continue to help by blocking the flow of migrants and by offering asylum to Central American immigrants while they wait for their asylum claims in the U.S. to be processed.
“That’s certainly a big part of this process, is Mexico stepping up and helping the United States do more by helping stop people from coming across our border by stopping them in Mexico,” Sanders said. “… We need them to continue to do that so that we aren’t forced take drastic action like closing the ports of entry at our border because we simply have no choice.”
She also said the closing the border is not something Trump would like to see because of the potential economic disadvantages.
“The president is the one that is responsible for the last two years of economic growth, economic boom, and the number of jobs that we have in this country. We don’t want to see that hurt,” Sanders said. “But at the same time, the president’s No. 1 responsibility is to protect American life.”
Trump has threatened closing the border between the U.S. and Mexico last week over Twitter and at a rally he held in Michigan. Border Patrol agents said the unprecedented action would help them recalibrate and better deal with illegal border crossings, although the action would cost the U.S. more than $800 million in trade per day.
