BORDER/MEXICO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “As President Donald Trump has renewed his threats to shut down the southern US border, officials in his administration are nervously watching his Twitter feed. Trump has been repeatedly warned by officials that shutting down the US-Mexico border could result in billions of dollars in economic losses, destabilize border towns and cities, and do little to stem the flow of migrants across the southern border, multiple current and former administration officials told CNN. But faced with a surge in illegal immigration and the optics of over-capacity detention centers at the US border, Trump has returned to the possibility of taking drastic action to signal that Mexico must do more. The results, one administration official warned, could be ‘catastrophic’…Trump has been briefed several times since last year about the economic consequences of shutting down US ports of entry at the southern border but has continued to contemplate the idea of shutting down sections or the border in its entirety. And some of his closest advisers have encouraged him to follow through.”
Eli Watkins, Pamela Brown and Jeremy Diamond, “Trump closing the border could have ‘catastrophic’ results, one official warns,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 1, 2019 6:50 pm