Michael Hernandez
18 October 2018•Update: 19 October 2018
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to send the military to halt an alleged migrant "onslaught" coming from Central America.
Trump said in a series of tweets he would use the military to "CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!" while demanding Mexico "stop this onslaught" from reaching the U.S.
The president reiterated threats to cut off aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, whom he said "seem to have almost no control over their population" over the group, which has been termed a "caravan."
"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. Hopefully Mexico will stop this onslaught at their Northern Border," he said in a third and final tweet using an acronym for a recently brokered free trade deal with Canada and Mexico.
Trump is responding to a reported group of migrants totaling roughly 4,000 people that originated in Honduras and is bound for the U.S.
Honduras and El Salvador have been gripped by a surge in mostly gang-related violence and continue to experience widespread poverty.
Trump alleged the group bound for the U.S. includes "MANY CRIMINALS," but did not offer evidence to support the allegation.
Mexican authorities have deployed roughly 500 additional federal police to Mexico's border with Guatemala as the human "caravan" makes its way north toward the U.S., NBC News reported.
The group has reportedly split in two.
Trump continued to fume at Democrats for what he called the U.S.'s "weak laws" on immigration as the Nov. 6 midterm elections near.
The president earlier this year called on state governors to deploy the National Guard over a similar migrant "caravan."
