I get the strong sense that although President Trump dislikes being briefed and doesn’t read much, he actually does pay close attention to the metrics at the southern border. He’s aware that his efforts to stem the tide of immigration from Latin America are failing in almost spectacular fashion, as our systems are being overwhelmed by an unstoppable flow of migrants and asylum seekers, especially from Central America.
The Central American migration boom that has swamped U.S. authorities grew even larger in May, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics released Wednesday that show more than 144,000 migrants were taken into custody, a 32 percent jump from April.
It was by far the largest one-month arrest total since President Trump took office, and it was the highest monthly figure in 13 years, CBP officials said Wednesday afternoon.
May was the third month in a row that border detentions topped 100,000, led by record-breaking levels of illegal crossings by Guatemalan and Honduran parents bringing children. CBP officials told reporters that agents and officers detained more than 100,000 family members and children, leaving holding cells “bursting at the seams.”
It seems that he’s desperate to fix this problem, probably because he believes lowering the level of immigration was his most important campaign promise, but also possibly due to his personal feelings on the matter. He’s daring the congressional Republicans to stop him from imposing escalating tariffs on Mexico, and it will be interesting to see what happens there. The Republican-controlled Senate might actually override a veto in an effort to prevent an economic catastrophe, but would House Republicans ever follow suit?
The tariffs are supposed to force Mexico to interdict more people before they cross the border into America, but that’s only the latest desperation move from the White House. So far, all efforts at deterring people from making the effort have had no effect. They’ve been such a failure that I almost wonder if people are more motivated to make the journey simply out of defiance.
Yet, that isn’t preventing Trump from looking for new and novel ways to make the border experience miserable.
The Trump administration is canceling English classes, recreational programs and legal aid for unaccompanied minors staying in federal migrant shelters nationwide, saying the immigration influx at the southern border has created critical budget pressures.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement has begun discontinuing the funding stream for activities — including soccer — that have been deemed “not directly necessary for the protection of life and safety, including education services, legal services, and recreation,” said U.S. Health and Human Services spokesman Mark Weber.
I don’t doubt that the spike in border-crossers with children is stressing the budget, but the overall plan is pretty clear. They continue to think that there is something they can do to convince people that coming to America is not preferable to staying in gang-invested neighborhoods in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. But they should have learned from the failure of the child separation policy that there is no chance that these folks will be dissuaded from seeking a more secure life in the north so long as life at home is intolerable.
This White House may never come to grips with the actual root of the problem, but a future White House will have to come up with some strategy to help these governments establish more law and order. If they don’t, we’ll continue to have an unmanageably large refugee problem with an accompanying white nationalist backlash.
Heh, a “F%@k you, Norte Americano, try and stop me!” migration.
I’m not sure what the solution could be. 114,000 a month? That’s a lot of people over a year. Looks like change is coming sooner than though.
.
5
I have my doubts that Der Trumper is desperate to stop these refugees; indeed it’s more likely he is thanking his (continuing) lucky stars that this migration issue was dumped in his lap. The situation allows him to demonstrate wanton cruelty and sadism to hated Latinos, which is precisely what his base of white deplorables (The 46%) loves to see and Fox ensures they will see it. The refugees are being held in concentration camps in largely inhumane conditions, and certainly aren’t being treated as hapless refugees in need of help.
This gratuitous cruelty is equally obvious from Team Trumper’s doomed “diplomacy” efforts, which are based wholly in threats and contempt, and do absolutely nothing to stem the tide from the home countries. Even more hilariously, the “diplomacy” now include increasing anger and hostility towards Mexico, the country with whom we should be working to set up refugees camps, since the refugees would be just as safe in Mexico as Trumpland, where they are deeply hated by our National Trumpalists, an enormous portion of the failed white electorate.
I suppose Dems could try to make an issue out of Trumper’s continuing failure to come up with anything that could work and label this just one more instance of incompetence in an ocean of idiocy. But that’s not going to change the mind of a single member of The 46%. In any event, Dems seem to have adopted a policy of keeping silent, which just aids Trumper being seen as the “Decisive Leader”. The latest proposed Trumpalist tariffs are patently illegal, as the prez simply doesn’t have this power. But this just makes it another matter to refer to the Trumpalist Supreme Court–a roll of the dice at best given the “conservative” destruction of the rule of (objective) law.
Team Trumper doesn’t make the slightest attempt at arguing that he can win the popular vote, and the Hated Latino Migration is one of the strongest things motivating his “electorate” to give him his (second) electoral college “win”. On balance, this migration issue is almost certainly one of the major factors keeping his approval ratings above 40%. Without it, he might be dead in the water. Indeed, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Trumper starting directing the border patrol soldiery to shoot at the families. Now that’s deterrence!
If the donald succeeds in blocking migration thru Mx, betcha they come via boats. Thus, will we watch the donald’s army arrest Americans for saving people from drowning?
O que que vocês acham sobre a entrada dos refugiados?
Sanidade
This immigration crisis started with the Arab Spring and the drought in the ME. And then there was Brexit. Bush’s
little war didn’t help. The prospect now has to be increased migrations as the climate deteriorates and violence spreads unless we are able to stop it soon. Trump enjoys it all far too much. It allows him to manipulate the world markets for his pleasure and gain all in the name of national security. There is an outside chance a dem congress could improve the situation by stopping some of the idiocy and doing something about climate change. Not counting on it though.