CALEXICO, Calif. -- Declaring "our country is full," President Donald Trump on Friday insisted the U.S. immigration system was overburdened and illegal crossings must be stopped as he inspected a refurbished section of fencing at the Mexican border.
Trump, making a renewed push for border security as a central campaign issue for his 2020 re-election, participated in a briefing on immigration and border security in Calexico before viewing a 2-mile see-through, steel-slat barrier that was a long-planned replacement for an older barrier.
"There is indeed an emergency on our southern border," Trump said at the briefing, adding that there has been a sharp uptick in illegal crossings. "It's a colossal surge, and it's overwhelming our immigration system. We can't take you anymore. Our country is full."
Trump's comments prompted immediate pushback from his critics.
"It's just a ridiculous statement," Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said. "We have agriculture industries across the country that desperately need workers. We have construction industries in California and in other places that desperately need workers, and immigration has always been not just a question of immigration policy but who we are as a country."
Also Friday, House Democrats filed a lawsuit preventing Trump from spending more money than Congress has approved to erect barriers along the southwestern border. Congress approved just under $1.4 billion for work on border barricades. Trump has asserted he can use his powers as chief executive to transfer an additional $6.7 billion to wall construction.
Weeks after declaring a national emergency at the border, Trump had threatened to close the legal ports of entry between Mexico and the United States -- potentially disrupting billions of dollars' worth of trade and halting the travel of a half-million people each day.
But on the eve of his trip to the border, Trump backed down in the face of criticism from the business community and top officials in his own party. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, predicted that a complete border shutdown would have a "potentially catastrophic economic impact" on the country.
Trump responded Thursday by initially saying he would give Mexico a year to stop Central American migrants from traversing Mexico on their way to the United States. And the president said that if Mexico did not do its part, he would first impose tariffs on Mexican cars before shutting down the border.
"We're going to give them a one-year warning, and if the drugs don't stop or largely stop, we'll put tariffs on Mexico and products, in particular cars."
On Friday, as he left the White House, Trump said Mexico had gotten tougher in stopping migrants from moving north, but suggested that he had not backed down on his threat to close the border.
"Mexico has been absolutely terrific for the last four days," the president said as he left the White House. "I never changed my mind at all. I may shut it down at some point."
Also Friday, Trump downplayed the claims of people seeking asylum at the border, saying that many are gang members while comparing some of their efforts to find safety in the U.S. to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
"It's a scam, it's a hoax," Trump said. "I know about hoaxes. I just went through a hoax."
As Trump landed in California, the state's governor ripped the president's push for Congress to pass legislation that would tighten asylum rules to make it harder for people to qualify.
"Since our founding, this country has been a place of refuge -- a safe haven for people fleeing tyranny, oppression and violence. His words show a total disregard of the Constitution, our justice system, and what it means to be an American," said Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Arrests along the southern border have skyrocketed in recent months, and border agents were on track to make 100,000 arrests or denials of entry in March, a 12-year high.
"The president himself has made it clear that this is a humanitarian crisis," Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of Homeland Security, said Thursday night on CNN. "He recognizes that humanitarian crisis, and he's trying to take it to the people who can fix it."
The southern border is nearly 2,000 miles long and already has about 650 miles of different types of barriers, including short vehicle barricades and tall steel fences that go up to 30 feet high.
No new mileage of fencing or other barriers has been completed under Trump's administration, but the president declared Friday that at least 400 miles of the border barrier would be erected over the next two years.
"Will soon be landing in Calexico, California to look at a portion of the new WALL being built on our Southern Border," Trump wrote aboard Air Force One on his way to California. "Within two years we will have close to 400 miles built or under construction & keeping our Country SAFE -- not easy when the Dems are always fighting to stop you!"
Administration officials had been studying ways to minimize the economic impact of a potential border closure in case Trump went through with his threat, including keeping trucking lanes open or closing only certain ports.
But even absent that step, delays at border stations have been mounting after some 2,000 border officers were reassigned from checking vehicles to deal with migrant crowds.
After the border visit, Trump was to travel to Los Angeles, where he was set to hold a pair of fundraisers. He was then poised to travel to Las Vegas for another re-election fundraiser and an address to the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Information for this article was contributed by Zeke Miller, Jonathan Lemire, Jill Colvin and Alan Fram of The Associated Press; and by Michael D. Shear of The New York Times.
A Section on 04/06/2019