Trump agrees not to close southern border with Mexico

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) said to have decided to not close the southern border as Mexico "apprehended over a thousand people" at its southern border and returned them to their home countries.

"I really wanted to close it. But now Mexico is saying, 'No, no, no.' First time in decades. 'We will not let anybody get through.' And they've apprehended over a thousand people at the southern border, their southern border. And they're bringing them back to their countries," The Hill quoted Trump as saying.

This comes as a relief to experts who had been arguing that closing the border all together will affect the trade and will detrimental to both the countries.

Last week, the President threatened to shut the US' southern border "or large sections of it" next week if Mexico did not begin apprehending more migrants."They've made a big step over the last two days. They are apprehending people," Trump was quoted as saying.

"The fact that they're doing that means fewer people are going to come," he added.

However, when asked about the severe economic impact of closing the border, Trump said, "Security is more important to me than the trade."

"We'll have a strong border or we'll have a closed border," the President noted.

In his tweets last week, President Trump said: "Mexico must use its very strong immigration laws to stop the many thousands of people trying to get into the US or else the next step is to close the border!"

The US President had previously voiced his disdain for the influx of illegal immigrants from the US-Mexico border. His demand for USD five billion in funding for a wall on this border and the US Congress' subsequent denial of the money led to the United States government's longest-ever partial shutdown in the nation's history.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon notified the US Congress that it had transferred USD one billion to begin new wall construction at the US-Mexico border at the behest of the US President.