Donald Trump threatens to close US-Mexico border

Donald Trump threatened to close its southern border if Mexico doesn't stop migrants illegally entering the US.

The threat was made by Trump after an increase in the number of migrants travelling through Mexico to the US surged in recent weeks.

Any closure of the border between the two countries would likely threaten billions worth of dollars.

Donald Trump has threatened to close the US border with Mexico. Credit: PA

Speaking on Friday, Trump said: "There's a very good likelihood that I'll be closing the border next week, and that will be just fine with me."

He also told reporters that it would be easy for Mexico to "stop people from coming up, but they don't choose to do it".

In a series of tweets later that evening, Trump wrote that because the US "lose so much money with them, especially when you add in drug trafficking etc., that the Border closing would be a good thing!"

Trump announced he told the state department to cut off direct assistance to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatamala.

Mexico's president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the issue of migration into the US was "not up to us Mexicans".

Following President Trump's tweets on Friday, Mr López Obrador told a crowd of supporters: "I want to make it clear that we are not going to fight with the United States government. Peace and love."

He referred to migration as a "human right" and said: "People in Central America don't have any options, so they set out looking for a way to earn a living."

Homeland Security Secretary Kirtjen Nielsen said border patrol staff had struggled to deal with the number of migrants trying to enter the US.

In March, the total number of apprehensions were expected to reach 100,000.

An estimated 1,000 unaccompanied children are among those in custody.