HOUSTON — Last week, President Trump threatened to seal the U.S.-Mexico border if Mexico didn’t do more stop asylum seekers trying to enter the U.S.
The administration said something dramatic would have to happen for the border not to be shut down.
The closure would have an immediate economic impact throughout Texas and in Houston.
Junior’s Farmers Market is a family-owned market that opened only a month and half ago. Employees worry if the southern border closes, it will have a severe impact on their bottom line.
“60 percent of our produce from Mexico,” said Jessika Sardana, whose father owns the store.
The market receives several shipments a week.
“We get watermelon, oranges, cilantro, cantaloupe, avocado,” Sardana said.
Agriculture and manufacturing of car parts are among the top industries for trade between the U.S. and Mexico. Thousands of cars and trucks come and go every day, adding up to more than $1 billion daily in goods and services.
If the border is closed, “Within an hour, I think we will realize the kind of chaos that we created, all around the Texas border, and of course California,” said Tony Payan, Director of the Mexico Center at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Payan said about 700,000 jobs in Texas depend on exports at the border. President Trump said a bigger issue is at hand: the immigration crisis.
The Border Patrol said in February, agents apprehended more than 66,000 people crossing the border illegally.
“Mexico will have to do something, otherwise, I’m closing the border,” the president said a news conference last week.
Mr. Trump said Mexico isn’t doing enough to stop the surge of Central American migrants seeking asylum at the border. His administration said the crisis is creating a “system-wide meltdown” because it can’t handle detaining and processing the families trying to enter the U.S.
Professor Payan said closing the border won’t solve that problem.
“It shows that he’s trying to link trade with the border and immigration, and it is probably best to keep them separate, with separate policies,” Payan said.
Payan said Houston is one of the cities that does the most trade with Mexico. Sardana said her dad’s store is one of them.
“If the border was to close, I feel like it would be a big impact on us," she said.
One distributor said Mexico supplies the U.S. with virtually all of our avocados. He predicts if the border is closed, it would only take just 3 weeks for us to run out.
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