“Are U.S. immigration officials even trying to come up with a better temporary fix than human beings sleeping on ice-cold gravel?… The humanitarian crisis at the southern border is real -- but the human rights violations are the ones that the United States government is either exacerbating or flat-out creating. Indeed, the budget bill passed by Congress this winter aimed to spend money on upgrading government detention facilities and increasing the number of now-overloaded immigration judges to process the asylum claims of refugees more quickly. But Team Trump seems much more interested in cannibalizing our military to pay for his grandiose border wall.”
Will Bunch, Philadelphia Inquirer

“There is a genuine problem at the U.S.-Mexico border… [But] cutting off aid to Central America or ‘closing the border,’ as Mr. Trump now threatens, would make things worse… [The commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection] would like Congress to give him authority to hold these migrants for up to eight weeks. That would allow time to process their claims, which would in many cases be denied. He also wants authority to return unaccompanied children to their home countries, which the law allows for Mexicans and Canadians but not Central Americans… 

“If word got out that paying $7,000 to ‘coyotes’ for the trip to the border was likely to result in a prompt return trip, the flow would diminish — which would mean fewer children in danger. Congress should consider both requests favorably, along with more aid to Central America to get at the root causes of this exodus.”
Editorial Board, Washington Post

Trump’s “own State Department publicly states that its strategy is to provide foreign assistance to Central America and protect American citizens ‘by addressing the security, governance, and economic drivers of illegal immigration and illicit trafficking.’ The aid -- again according to Trump's State Department -- ‘goes toward fighting crime organizations, drug trafficking, gang violence and human trafficking, while strengthening borders and enhancing security’… His reactive move to punish the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador will undoubtedly increase migration, rather than deter it.”
Samantha Vinograd, CNN

Finally, many point out that “shutting down ports of entry would be an economic disaster. It would also disrupt the lives of border communities that rely on the flow of people between the US and Mexico — including the major cities of San Diego (and Tijuana) and El Paso (and Ciudad Juarez). Approximately $1.5 billion worth of commerce happens along the US-Mexico border every day… When the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego shut down for a few hours in November, as agents responded with force (including tear gas) to an organized march of asylum seekers, the temporary closure cost about $5.3 million in lost business revenue… Literally no one but Trump actually wants to close border crossings.”
Dara Lind, Vox