Three Times Previous Presidents Closed the Southern Border

On three past occasions, presidents temporarily closed the southern border, something President Donald Trump threatened Monday to do permanently.

Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan both closed the border over drug-related issues that halted entry from Mexico into the United States.

President Lyndon B. Johnson, shortly after taking office amid crisis, closed the border after the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy.

While Johnson’s example was unique, all three cases dealt with a president’s authority to act on the border during an emergency. The Trump administration has determined that the series of “caravans” of thousands of Central American migrants headed to the border is an emergency.

With Nixon in 1969 and Reagan in 1985–as is the case today–the United States was trying to pressure the Mexican government’s law enforcement into stepping up its efforts.

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