Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s vague threat to close the U.S.-Mexico border unless a series of unlikely demands are met would result in “absurd” consequences.
“I think that the consequences to the economy, to our relationship with Mexico, to millions of families would be absurd,” Gingrich said in an appearance on “Fox and Friends.”
“I would strongly urge the President not to try to shut down the border,” Gingrich said. “We have so many people every day who go back and forth. We have so much economic goods on both sides. It would truly be a mess and it would frankly mess up the very economy he is proud of. You would have tremendous side effects from closing the border.”
Trump has for several days dangled the possibility that he will “close” all or parts of the border, at first saying he would do so if Mexico “doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States throug our Southern Border.”
On Tuesday, Trump shifted the goalposts for the dramatic threat, saying that he wanted to “get rid of chain migration,” “catch and release,” and the visa lottery.”
Trump also said “we have to do something about asylum” — which his administration has attempted to do many times, often resulting in court-ordered injunctions — and that “we have to get rid of judges.”
Gingrich: Trump's threat To "shut down" the border would "truly be a mess" pic.twitter.com/PuiIG7v8K3
— Matt Shuham (@mattshuham) April 3, 2019
