We’ll have 500 miles [of the Southern border fence] built by very early next year, some time, so, one of the reasons the numbers are so good. We will do everything in our power to keep the infection and those carrying the infection from entering our country. We have no choice. Whether it’s the virus that we’re talking about or many other public health threats. The Democrat policy of open borders is a direct threat to the health and well-being of all Americans. Now you see it with the coronavirus, you see it.”
— President Trump, at a campaign rally in Charleston, S.C., Feb. 28, 2020
“Going up fast. We need the Wall more than ever!”
— Trump, in a tweet, March 10, 2020
Trump is using the covid-19 outbreak to justify his push for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, even though the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public-health experts say they haven’t seen evidence it can stop the virus from spreading.