McConnell warns of ‘catastrophic economic impact' after border closure

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has warned of a “catastrophic economic impact” if US President Donald Trump moves to close the country's southern border with Mexico.

"Closing down the border would have potentially catastrophic economic impact on our country, and I would hope we would not be doing that sort of thing," McConnell told reporters during a press conference in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

Citing what he claims to be an “immigration crisis” at the US-Mexico border, Trump has on several occasions expressed readiness to close it if necessary.

PressTV-Trump threatens to close Mexican border next week

US President Donald Trump has threatened to close border with Mexico to trade if immigrants are not stopped. Mexico has said it does not act on the basis of threats.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, the US president said earlier in the day that if Congress failed to pass stricter immigration laws, he would either shut the border or "close large sections of the border."

"If we don’t make a deal with Congress, the Mexico border’s going to be closed. 100 percent," Trump said. "Or we’re going to close large sections of the border, maybe not all of it. But it’s the only way we’re getting a response, and I’m totally ready to do it.”

'Economic disaster'

Senate minority leader Charles Schumer also warned of a potential "economic disaster" if Trump closed the border, predicting, however, that the US president would not follow through on his threat.

"The economic disaster to the country would be huge, and my guess is that cooler heads will prevail upon the president not to do it. It would be a disaster for him and a disaster for the country," Schumer said.

The American head of state has repeatedly lashed out at Mexico, accusing the country of "doing nothing" to prevent the mass flow of migrants arriving at the US border.

The US Customs and Border Protection announced last week that more than 76,000 undocumented immigrants had crossed into the United States in February, which is an 11-year high.

Meanwhile, Mexican Interior Minister Olga Sanchez said on Thursday that her country was preparing to receive a huge 20,000-strong caravan of migrants heading to the United States from Honduras in the coming weeks.

Over the past year, a series of migrant caravans from Central American countries have journeyed north to seek asylum in the US, drawing the ire of the administration in Washington, which is opposed to such migration.

Trump has long promised to build a wall on the US border with Mexico to physically stop the inflow of the migrants but has failed to fulfill that pledge so far.

The US president had initially promised that Mexico would pay for his wall. When he failed to secure funding from Mexico, Trump turned to US Congress, which also refused. To bypass Congress, the US president last month declared a “national emergency” to corral funds allocated to other US organizations and funnel them to his wall project.

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Trump has called the entry of the caravans an “invasion” by “thugs” and “criminals” and warned them to turn back or his administration would separate families at the border with Mexico, a policy condemned by Amnesty International and other rights groups as “disgraceful, mean-spirited and unlawful.”

Most of the migrants say they are fleeing the corruption of their US-backed governments as well as persecution, violence, and poverty in their home countries.

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