My own bias:
If it were up to me,
there would be
a double fence
on the Mexican border,
with a road and barbed wire
between the two fences.
Anyone who got through
the first fence would be shot
and left to die without
medical assistance.
I imagine "my" policy
would steer people
toward legal points of entry.
Of course that's why I don't
get to make the decision !
President Trump made
a nine-minute speech
about a “security crisis
at the southern border”
on January 9, 2019.
Many statistics
that Trump presented
that Trump presented
were misleading,
as is common
among politicians
of both parties.
Democrats who voted
for a border fence in 2006
apparently now want
apparently now want
'open borders',
although they never
state that directly
... because it is
a stupid policy !
... because it is
a stupid policy !
And if they don't want
open borders, then they
are just opposing any
border barrier because
Trump promised to
build "a wall",
and they want Trump
to lose in 2020,
partly because
"his wall" never got built.
This is
American
politics
American
politics
at it's worst.
THE BIG PICTURE:
The number of people
caught trying to cross illegally,
between legal ports of entry,
is near 20-year lows:
Apprehensions of people
trying to cross
the southern border
between ports of entry
peaked at
1.64 million in 2000,
and have been
in a sharp decline
since then, falling to
397,000 apprehensions
at the U.S.-Mexico border
for fiscal 2018.
There are
far more cases
of travelers
overstaying visas,
than southern border
apprehensions.
In fiscal 2017,
the Department
of Homeland Security
reported 606,926
suspected in-country
visa overstays,
or twice the number
of southern border
apprehensions
in the same year.
In fiscal 2016,
U.S. officials reported
408,870 southern border
apprehensions
and 544,676
suspected in-country
vias overstays.
Trump said border agents
“encounter thousands
of illegal immigrants
trying to enter our country”
every day.
Southern border
apprehensions
in fiscal 2018
averaged 30,000
per month
(or 1,000 a day).
One thousand a day,
is not
"thousands" a day.
Trump said 90%
of the heroin
in the United States
comes across
the border
with Mexico.
There is no way anyone
could know exactly
what percentage
crosses the border.
But 90% of the heroin
sold in the United States
is believed to come
across the Mexican border.
However,
most of the heroin
comes through
legal entry points,
and wouldn’t be stopped
by a new border wall.
Only a small percentage
of all heroin seized
by Customs &
by Customs &
Border Protection
along the land border,
was seized between
legal Ports of Entry.
Trump said:
“Last month,
20,000 migrant children
were illegally brought
into the United States,
a dramatic increase.
These children are used
as human pawns
by vicious coyotes
and ruthless gangs.”
The "20,000"
is correct,
but no one tracks
how many
of the
20,000 children
20,000 children
are smuggled in
by bad actors,
“coyotes” or
drug gangs.
The 20,000
is CBP’s number
for apprehensions
of family units and
unaccompanied
minors.
minors.
A "family unit" is
a child, or children,
with a mother,
or a father,
or a mother and father,
or a legal guardian.
20,000 is
the total number
of children, parents
and legal guardians
caught at the border,
not the number
of families.
Incoming families
and children
are the current
primary problem:
“Record numbers
of migrant families
are streaming
into the
United States,
overwhelming
border agents,
and leaving
holding cells
dangerously
overcrowded
with children,
many of whom
are falling sick,”
The Washington Post
reported January 5, 2019.
Senator Chuck Schumer,
Senator Hillary Clinton,
Senator Barack Obama,
and many other Democrats,
all voted for the
Secure Fence Act
of 2006,
which authorized
building a fence
along nearly 700 miles
of the border
between the
United States
and Mexico.
Trump has called
the 2006 fence
a “nothing wall.”
Whether one calls
the situation
at the Mexico border
a "crisis", depends
on how you
define "crisis".
The word "crisis"
has precedent:
Whether one calls
the situation
at the Mexico border
a "crisis", depends
on how you
define "crisis".
The word "crisis"
has precedent:
