President Trump Thursday blamed Democratic policies for the caravan of 4,000 migrants making its way up Central America to Mexico and hinted Democrats were behind the caravan’s formation.
Trump made the remarks in in Missoula at a rally for Republicans in Montana.
“Now we’re starting to find out and I won’t say it 100 percent, I’ll put a little tiny question mark at the end…A lot of money’s been passing through, people to come up and try and get to the border by election day because they think that’s a negative for us,” he sad at a campaign rally in Montana.
{mosads}“They wanted that caravan, and there are those that say that caravan didn’t just happen, it didn’t just happen. A lot of reasons that caravan…They like it, they also figure everybody coming in is going to vote Democrat. Hey, they’re not so stupid when you think about it right?” he added.
Trump also doubled down on his warning to send the military to the southern border to prevent further migration.
“As you know I’m willing to send the military to defend our southern border if necessary, all caused because of the illegal immigration onslaught brought by the Democrats because they refuse to acknowledge or change the laws,” he said.
Trump first made the threat Thursday morning in a series of tweets when he bashed Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador and threatened to withhold funds to some Central American countries.
“I am watching the Democrat Party led (because they want Open Borders and existing weak laws) assault on our country by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, whose leaders are doing little to stop this large flow of people, INCLUDING MANY CRIMINALS, from entering Mexico to U.S.,” he said in an initial tweet.
“In addition to stopping all payments to these countries, which seem to have almost no control over their population, I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught — and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!” he said in a follow-up post.
“The assault on our country at our Southern Border, including the Criminal elements and DRUGS pouring in, is far more important to me, as President, than Trade or the USMCA,” he added, referring to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade. “Hopefully Mexico will stop this onslaught at their Northern Border. All Democrats fault for weak laws!”
Trump said in April that he wanted to deploy U.S. troops to guard the southern border until his proposed wall was built.
The Mexican government said Thursday it would seek help from the United Nations refugee agency to coordinate efforts with other Central American governments to deal with people arriving to Mexico’s southern border seeking refugee status.