Donald Trump threatens to send military to close US border with Mexico over immigration

Donald Trump has threatened to use the US military to close the country’s southern border if Mexico does not halt the crossing of illegal immigrants.

In a series of angry tweets, the president asked Mexico "in the strongest terms" to take action to stop large groups of migrants headed for the US from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

"I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught - and if unable to do so I will call up the US military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!" Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.

Mr Trump threatened to withhold regional aid this week as a large group os several thousand Honduran migrants travelled through Guatemala to Mexico hoping to cross the US-Mexico border and escape endemic violence and poverty in Central America.

The president also dispatched US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico City on Friday.

Mr Trump, who has made cracking down on immigration and building a wall on the Mexican border a key policy, has previously threatened to shut off aid and dispatch troops there.

In his tweets, Mr Trump also appeared to link the issue to trade and a newly minted deal with Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement pact that is awaiting ratification.

“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," Mr Trump wrote, referring to the newest trade deal known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

“Hopefully Mexico will stop this onslaught at their northern border. All Democrats fault for weak laws!”