US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to double tariffs on Mexico unless it can keep migrant caravans from reaching the common border, something the Mexican government has been regularly doing.
“They will not be accepted! MEXICO MUST STOP THEM, NOW, and if they do not do so, the Tariffs on Mexico will be IMMEDIATELY DOUBLED,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The Mexican government has intervened to block several groups of migrants traveling up from Central America since September, but at least two more groups have attempted the journey in recent days.
Members of the caravans, one with about 1,000 people and another numbering around 100, have told AFP they hoped that the midterm election defeat of Trump’s Republicans would result in less stringent US border restrictions.
Democrats swept both chambers of Congress and won the governorship of Texas for the first time in more than three decades.
Mexican security personnel intervened against the group of 100 people on Tuesday after they crossed a river separating Mexico from Guatemala, reportedly detaining dozens of people.
Two days earlier, however, the group of 1,000 people crossed the border without encountering resistance.
Such caravans were a frequent occurrence during Trump’s first term and during the administration of Joe Biden.
Since Trump’s return to office on a hardline anti-immigration agenda, illegal border crossings have plummeted.
He has also heaped pressure on Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to increase her country’s own efforts at impeding migrants from reaching the border.
“Here we go again! With the perceived loss by the Republicans in the Midterms… the INVASION of our Country is taking place again,” Trump said Thursday.
“There will be no leniency!” he warned.
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