WASHINGTON/ MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Friday the United States will swiftly return migrants who attempt to cross into the nation illegally from Mexico and Canada while closing the borders to “non-essential” travel to limit the spread of the new coronavirus.
Flanked by leading U.S. authorities at the White House, Trump also said the United States and Mexico would work to keep commerce moving as much as possible throughout the border to try to limit disturbances to organisation.
Comparable measures at the U.S.-Canada border, for example suspending traveler and leisure travel, were also put in place. Both steps will work just before midnight on Friday.
Trump is campaigning for reelection in November and his immigration crackdown is a focus of his pitch to citizens. He argued on Friday that migrants crossing the border threatened to intensify the coronavirus break out.
” In normal times, these huge flows position a large problem on our health care system, however during a worldwide pandemic, they threaten to create a perfect storm that would spread the infection to our border agents, migrants and to the general public at large,” Trump said.
In the United States, there have been 12,500 validated cases of the new coronavirus and at le