Would the NYT be interested in doing a comparison of the immigration policies of some of our neighbors & allies? The UK, Canada, Mexico or Australia?
Do they allow people to overstay visas without removal? Do they allow seriously ill or the elderly to immigrate in order to receive free medical services? Is “family reunification” a big feature of their policies? Answer to these questions is “No”!
Do they require that immigrants be able to support themselves without government assistance? Do they have age restrictions on immigration? Do they give people with educational/professional skills who can be an asset the their economy preference?
Answer to these questions is “Yes”
I haven’t heard the press slamming these countries as racist. No, the NYT wouldn’t be interested in researching those systems.
23
Just a thought: citizens of Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador have visa-free access with their passports to Europe and South America. Instead of paying coyotes thousands of dollars for unsafe passage to an uncertain future at the US border, why not get your passport and buy a one-way ticket out to Argentina, Chile, Brazil or Spain and any other European country? And then apply for asylum once you reach that destination.
16
Good for Trump and his efforts to enforce US immigration law.
If Mexican border cities are unsafe, so are Chicago, New York, and Baltimore.
14
Trump suckers are adamant here that Trump's policy -- which can be summed up as "deterrence via atrocity" -- is working, but seem to have forgotten that they used to chant about building a wall that Mexico would pay for.
Trump is leading us nowhere but backwards.
3
A bigger problem moving forward remains:
What will be our role as the world's wealthiest, most powerful nation -- that many claim is also a "Christian" nation -- when climate change forces much more mass migration than we are now witnessing?
We need the world around us to be strong and wealthy, too.
We need leaders who understand that global economics is not a simplistic zero sum game.
Trump is leading us backwards at a time when we need someone with vision the most.
Virtually any other candidate will serve us better than Trump.
5
It's been an unusually hot summer as well, so add that to the normal drop off for this time of year.
I do worry about those stuck in Mexico as well as Venezuelans.
Mexico is being forced to pay for things it cannot afford.
Their new National Guard was formed explicitly for fighting their own criminality problems, especially the drug cartels. Now they're being used as border guards. I thought fighting drugs was the major part of the reason for clamping down on immigration.
2
This whole tragedy sickens me. My heart goes out to those families who have liquidated their assets in their home countries and now have to return to less than nothing.
Yes, I have no doubt the credit belongs to Mexico, but at what cost? The Mexican government has used its meagre resources to stop the flow of migration to the U.S., thereby weakening its forces to fight the war on drugs and making the country less safe for its citizens.
In addition, while the U.S. has cut aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, AMLO has given millions in aid which has also helped to slow of migration.
So, good for you, Mr. Trump. You managed to strong arm a poorer country into doing your job, thereby pushing that country into more dire straights.
When are Americans going to wake up and see that these penny wise and pound foolish policies are only an electoral gimmick which ultimately hurt millions of people, including the U.S. when Mexicans need to start migrating, again?
This makes sense if Mr. Trump and the GOP have designs on impoverishing Mexico so that it will be easier to grab more of its territories in the future. Mexico, beware! There is a hungry lion with a huge yaw drooling at your doorstep!
5
This is excellent news. Women are being saved from being raped by smugglers. Children are safe from being stolen or bought by smugglers assembling ‘family units’. Misguided dogooder groups are being stopped from being inadvertent business partners with illegal immigrant smuggling coyotes. The laws on the books are finally being enforced. Shame on both Democrats and Republicans for failing to do the job we sent them to Washington to do. One suspects that in exchange for campaign contributions, both parties turned a blind eye to the smuggling of cheap labor for their wealthy contributors. I did not vote for President Trump, but I heartily support his immigration policy.
218
One month of statistics success does not make. I remind you we still don’t have a comprehensive immigration reform policy on the books that is desperately needed for a closer more integrated world. Mr Trump does not want any immigration to the US, even legal immigration, unless the immigrants hail from Europe, claim Christianity as their faith, and will help pay our sovereign debt he is helping to amass. As the son of an immigrant father, Trump’s immigration policy fractures the Statue of Liberty, and debases ultimately the US as a moral beacon of light and freedom the world has ever known.
36
@Chesapeake A closer more integrated world? Where is this language coming from and at does that mean? If you actually believe that, they why is no one calling to integrate South America with non-south Americans, or the integration of people in any other poverty stricken lands...because its not about integration at all. Its about bringing a voting base of poor immigrants to this country to try and get votes for Democrat left-leaning and socialist policies. Nothing more. To believe otherwise is naive.
39
Closer more integrated meaning that transportation and technology have brought the world’s 7 billion inhabitants much closer together than ever before. Please don’t be so paranoid about sovereignty or preoccupation with Democratic demographics and the electorate. I was not thinking about your concerns when I used the term. The fact is, however, the US needs a modernized immigration policy to deal with these new realities that make border security and overstayed visas much more likely. By the way, by mid-century the US is-on course to be a minority majority country, and nothing the Donald is doing will change that now.
23
Here we go again with the Fox News Times trying to say the president has achieved one of his aims. Meanwhile, here in AZ temperatures are above 100F and it is really freaking hot. I am in no mood for a little stroll on the border. Just wait for the fall.
8
Results are due to rise in temperatures. Let’s look at numbers late in the fall, when cooler weather makes travel on foot possible.
6
So … what’s happening?
Maybe Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ tantrum at Border Patrol facility scared them off?!
To get the real answer, readers need to scroll down 12 paragraphs into this news story before the big reveal:
“The United States policy to return people to Mexico and the pressure on Mexico to stop the migration are having a big impact,” said Daniel Bribiescas, an immigration lawyer in Tijuana.
Aha! So Donald Trump’s get-tough policies have had their desired impact!
No wonder the Gray Lady waited until the twelfth paragraph to mention it!
In fact, eighteen thousands asylum seekers were sent back into Mexico last month, which might have sent a clear message to others not to bother with the trip for just economic reasons.
At the moment, they won’t even have court dates until October to resolve asylum applications, and historically less than ten percent of those will qualify anyway.
Along with the tariff threat, Trump also demanded that Mexico adopt the “safe third country” protocol while securing its own southern border. After brief but tense negotiations, Mexico avoided that demand, but only if it could show that they could end the wholesale deluge of migrants flocking to the southern border. And guess what? Readers have to scroll down considerably further to learn that incentives work!
For a whodunit story, the Times’ report is remarkable subtle.
How difficult is it to admit that Trump got this one right?!
12
@Jerry: Trump always claims a win, but the game goes on anyway. Trump will disgrace the US into to the category of Hitler's Germany if not plucked from his bully's pulpit soon.
2
Wonderful news. Excellent. They finally have seen the light. Don't come here. Find another country to infiltrate. Try Europe. They love you there.
11
Place your criticism where it belongs: Our Congress that has failed to develop a serious immigration plan since the Reagan amnesty 40 years ago. Every time a bi-partisan committee developed an idea, it was stalled and shelved. This new development is not an end to migration because the problems of poverty and drug cartels have not gone away. Now is the time to act and create a feasible plan before we have thousands at our doorstep again.
40
@Daphne
Here's a plan:
1. A Big, Beautiful wall.
2. Put our army at the border.
For once, let our army do the job they were actually meant for: Protecting the USA, instead of protecting half the nations in the world.
7
EXCELLENT. Keep the good work going
7
“…only nationals from countries like India, China and Russia, whose citizens are not subjected to the Remain in Mexico policy…”
1. Why aren’t they subject to that policy?
2. It's unlikely that they also fleeing for their lives from dangerous Central American gangs.
This is further evidence of the danger of enticing illegal immigration, even if inadvertently, with sanctuary cities, employment, lack of border security, etc. The influx won’t just be tens of millions from Central America, it will hundreds of millions from the entire world.
11
@John: No country succeeds at regulating immigration without a national ID database that needs to be referenced to complete economic transactions.
2
Why is no one expressing concern about the numbers of people who are displaced and living in Mexico or other countries south of the border? This is the kind of environment that creates instability and presents a danger from failed states.
I'm glad that the US has "solved" the problem of migrants "attacking" our borders. I hope that problem stays solved, but I'm not optimistic that Mexico and other nations have the resources to handle the challenge.
People are fleeing Venezuela and moving into neighboring nations. That's another source of instability.
The "threat" of illegal immigration is something that should be addressed, but it's too potent as a political weapon for our government to seek positive solutions. People will continue to suffer and there will be unscrupulous leaders who take advantage of that suffering.
4
What’s happening is abject fear of American policies or lack there of. The concentration camps have worked to dissuade the flow of refugee freedom seekers.
America is not a melting pot. It is a self immolation of sanity and a rejection of Jesus agape love.
Jesus if he actually existed as the current codex insists was a true prophet.
Paul / Saul usurped the essence of Jesus and today the outcome of that is “ fake paulist christianity” that postulates hate of others and the importance of power over peace.
Religiosity is destructive .
The Central America the USA created since Reagan Policies will now hate America.
I guess our holier than thou bubble has completely burst.
Do trumps cult all play in the stock market. Not most.
But they love hating immigrants while trump and co. Steal our blood and treasure.
We should all file taxes next season with 9 dependents. Let’s all have a work stoppage for immigrants in cages.
Let’s do something to show we have a moral compass collectively resisting trumpian autocracy.
3
In case some of you can’t figure out why apprehensions of illegal immigrants(fake asylum seekers) is higher under Trump than Obama - it’s nothing to do with either President. The collapse of Venezuela and Guatemala’s economy due to corruption, mismanagement and incompetence is the reason and we cannot accept the worlds unskilled population. We have limited housing and depressed wages, causing the average American to live week to week while overextending their debt load. - what is the Dems plan to stop overpopulating our country or we too will fall to economic and climate based crisis.
13
Shame on the Americas. Shame on the governments from Central America to the US whose leaders are so politically motivated and/or corrupt that they couldn't sit down together and work out plans to address the issues of dislocation caused by:
1. Climate change induced droughts - ruining farmers.
2. Gang violence - some of which is caused by OUR consumption of drugs.
3. Ineffective governments - with no help from the US including the interference in democracy by Reagan and Bush 1.
Trumps cruel tactics may stem the tide of desperate humanity for now. But this story is just beginning. We are ruining our planet via rising sea levels, droughts, floods, fires - global warming all exacerbated by humans.
The dislocation of populations will be epic and on a scale no one can imagine. Or wants to imagine. Too many people. Too many selfish people. Too many stupid people.
5
I hope that Democratic Presidential candidates are reading the comments here. There's no support for a policy that looks like open borders, even among people who despise the current President and find his policies reprehensible.
How to best help unfortunate people who are fleeing poverty, how to identify legitimate claims of asylum, remain topics for current and would-be policy makers and future Op-Eds. But America's desire for controlled borders should be viewed as case closed.
The Statue of Liberty is no longer Ezra Pound's New Colossus. It is a symbol of what made America great at a different time in history - a time when travel was much harder, communication far slower and wide open spaces more abundant. It can still be a symbol of democracy and a diverse society that believes all people are created equal... but with the caveat that some are luckier in their place of birth.
We can embrace our diversity and celebrate our heritage of immigration. But we must do so while controlling our borders and ensuring an orderly and fair process for immigrants. This is also the best way to see a reemergence of the generosity that Americans are known for.
16
Where has American compassion gone? Whether Christian, Jewish, or Muslim, we all believe in the same God. We all teach compassion and love of our fellow humans in accordance with God's laws. It is a sin against God to treat our needy neighbors as criminals and less than we are.
1
I guess Trump policies are working.
2
@Angelsea You know, we can't let charitable preferences run the country because of the separation of church and state.
3
Despite the many doubters (and even greater number of opposers), Trump is becoming an American hero — the only senior politician (and maybe it’s because he isn’t really a politician) truly willing to defend us from the invaders and their Democrat enablers. It may be too late, but Trump is trying to protect us from the Democrats’ plan to replace American voters with peasants focused on Democrat-provided welfare.
7
The only way to stop the border crisis and the "children " problem is to prevent them from entering ,problem solved.
10
Still would like to read a story about Trump not allowing Canadian, Euro, Australian or other countries aircraft being turned away from the border. Full of supplies....Maybe an offer of medical triage, tent city or......taking a token 1% back on their planes....
All of this occurred on the doorstep of the democratic house while Trump was barking daily about a looming crisis. I think most thoughtful Americans acknowledge this and assess accordingly.
Until the open border folks have an elementary school age child in any of the immediately affected areas, their words disappear with the morning dew. Now, watch the arguments for school choice take an even more uglier tone. Sure can't blame the affected.
um ... Maybe another reason for the drop is that there are only so many desperate people in Central America that are left to make the journey. But hold the "celebrations" - those countries' criminal gangs, and corrupt politians and police continue in their business of making ever more desperate people ready to hazard the trip to US asylum, however bleak their prospects or however dire their prospects when they arrive.
I'm sure Trump's base is thrilled. As for me, I am sickened and disgusted by what has happened to my country. We have gone from being a shining light, Regan's Biblical language of 'a city on a hill,' to slamming the door. Yes, our immigration laws and system need real overhaul, but this 'slam the door' and keep out the "hoards" atmosphere is the opposite of the ideal we once held as a nation.
3
@Anne-Marie Hislop how is asking people to claim asylum in other countries and waiting slamming a door?
5
When Trump threatened Mexico with tariffs if Mexico did not take action to mitigate the number of Central American immigrants crossing its terriotry, everyone in the mainstream press and politicians from both sides of the aisle criticized the President's tactics. With this good news, President Trump bears significant credit for taking the initiative by putting pressure on the Mexican government to reduce the current crisis.
7
" I expect America to act with integrity and to be the beacon of hope for the world. " That is the old America where I grew up. The new America is "America First, make America great again." It WAS GREAT when America acted with integrity and provided a beacon of hope for the world. That era I fear is history.
3
Looks like even down in Honduras the people are starting to get the message. Breaking and entry into the US will not be a picnic. That progressive Democrats are all talk from behind protected homes, locked churches and tightly zipped wallets. And the US Government hospitality suites are overcrowded and nothing - or rather everything - to write home about.
15
Curious how the number of family units heading north increased after Donald Trump took office, almost as if there was some catalyst spiking the movement toward the US border even as treatment of arrivals there worsened. Wonder if it has anything to do with reports by Central Americans of individuals with resources and organizational capacity suddenly putting together the so-called caravans that seemingly magically to arrive at the same entry point to Mexico at the same time, a feat well beyond Guatemalan campesinos and Honduran shanty town residents. A cynic might ask whose interests are served by all the clamor at the border. People involved in human trafficking take pains to conceal their activities, not publicize them. We can conclude that those seeking political gain by having the border matter in the news might make an effort to capitalize on motivated migration.
And it would be a mistake to discount the impact of the pressures we have created on Mexico. The National Guard units thrown into border control efforts lack requisite training, leadership, and support. Mexico appears to be withdrawing its collaboration with US anti-narcotics efforts as it focuses on the immigration issue. This has long been a goal of the cartels, including the Cartel of the Potomac that reportedly oversees passage of narcotics into the United States. By diverting the energies of Customs and Border Protection to chasing Honduran children the Cartel increases opportunities for safe smuggling.
6
I wonder how Obama’s administration kept apprehension low. NYTimes should do an article comparing different presidents’ policies.
3
@Lilly Lynd South America was having different issues at the time. Most migrants are from Guatemala. His policies were carried into trumps term. Trump is consistently blocked from changing part of Obama’s policy, but Obama also couldn’t pass revised policy because the Republicans blocked him so essentially both parties are to blame for this.
6
@Lilly Lynd - Obama changed our definition of “deported” to include those nabbed right at the border, just to inflate his numbers and look tough (cough) on immigration.
5
Each of these fake asylum seekers must be stopped and left in a worse position. Sold your land? Oops! Make better choices. This is an invasion by economic terrorists out to destroy our jobs, our wages, our way of life. Looking forward to the raids on Sunday and headlines that economic terrorists have been arrested and are heading home!
17
@John Galt: So what was the USA when it invaded Guatemala and replaced the democratically chosen government there with a dictatorial regime to serve USA economic interests, plunging the country in half a century of civil war? In which the oppressors were supported by the USA? The USA behaved like a terrorist country ... The USA just reaps now what it sowed in Guatemala and other Latin countries where they meddled. Learn some history!
3
@Anna Overpopulation is the biggest issue here.
4
So it took 2 1/2 years and 7 different attempts to get the border to a point where it is 50% LESS porous than when Obama was in charge ?
Thanks, but no thanks
Let's get the border back to 2016 security levels and America back to its senses
3
It's no secret that force and cruelty will have results. The question is, who's willing to go there, and to what degree? I'll never forget Trump's concentration camps for children. Nor will anybody else with a conscience.
8
The administration has outsourced the border security to Mexico and like most outsourced services, it works over a short term. Weather also matters. But the Bragger in Chief will take all the credit for some time.
3
Every time I look at the chart, why the border crossings go up in the Republican President terms? Do the Republican administrations enforce the law and get real count? Or the Democrats report undercount? Puzzles me.
2
@UpClose you need to pay attention to what’s going on in South America for answers and stop looking at policy here. Guatemala is falling apart and we now have 1 percent of their population. The majority of migrants are from Guatemala fleeing violence.theyve been stopping hundreds of thousands of Guatemalan migrants at the Guatemalan border. South American corrupt gvts profit by being in bed with the coyotes and since we also stared legalizing marijuana Mexico is sending harder drugs. The cartels need to always profit. They’re even stealing kids and sending them over with fake parents. It’s a bloody mess.
2
Don't you see what happens. First Donald and the GOP instigate the "invasion" of "illegal immigrants" to position the political topic with its base (the trumpists), but then they couldn't cope with the number of immigrants and got scared when the situation at the detention camps started to backfire. Now, they stoped instigating the "run" of the immigrants....
1
Tump is despised and changing our democracy. His tactics are despicable yet in this instance he seems to be solving the crisis of illegal immigration from Central America into the United States.
In my opinion a large part of the problem is over population, unsustainable living conditions in immigrants home countries and the exploitation by industry in those countries and of their people by companies operating there. In order to further address a sustainable solution I feel that companies need to be held more accountable for the local economic damage and our government address it's own corruotion and mentor by leadership to the local governments of Central and South America.
3
With the crimes against humanity being committed in our name against immigrants, it is no surprise that immigrants no longer see America as a beacon of democracy. Yes, there is a problem that too many immigrants were arriving but instead of helping their countries so they would be motivated to stay;
we terrified them by abusing them here. If Trump supporters want to call that success, then heaven help us. I worry too about just how the Mexican police are enforcing their borders. It is very possible in an equally inhumane manner due to pressure from Trump. Purported "security" at a loss of human decency calls to mind "gaining the whole world and losing your own soul". Evangelical Trump supporters be careful what you wish for.
7
@Jean Rollins This is no more a "crime against humanity" than when you are pulled into US Customs secondary inspection as you return from your vacation or when the others from your flight get taken to have their passports and visas inspected.
4
Reading these comments from supposedly educated people, I wonder what happened to our great nation? Our merciful country that opened its arms to newcomers and tried to help the poor and needy -- who incidentally pay us back way beyond any largess we offer. Almost every single writer here is either an immigrant or the children or grandchildren of same. What if America had closed its doors to your ancestors? Where would you be? You would not be so smug and self satisfied and unwilling to share our great land with others. American would be nowhere without its immigrant populations. This country seems to be inhabited by zombies and monsters under trump, complaining about giving healthcare to the sick or food to the starving. We cannot allow this country to devolve into his image of violence and vengeance. Trump is a corrupt, vindictive, spiteful man who thrives on chaos and cruelty. Don't be like trump.
14
@Lila Bear please be aware that, like the planet, USA as a geographical area, has a limited carrying capacity and doubling the population since 1950 has put a huge strain on infrastructure, natural resources, and the taxpayers. Your charity and ideals are destroying the lives of poor Americans by forcing them to pay for people who jump the line. Your short-sightedness puts huge strains on our environment and resources, and for what? Charity begins at home!!
18
I am a child of immigrants - legal immigrants that waited 5 years after World War II to get a legal permit to enter and stay in this country. I only expect others to also respect our laws and enter legally.
It’s not fair to immigrants from countries that are not-land connected to the US. They can’t just walk over the border illegally. African, Asian, Europeans have to do it legally and so should Latin Americans.
16
@Lila Bear this comparison is apples and oranges. We do in fact still take a large amount of those fleeing from violence. More than any other country. There’s a finite amount of resources and immigration costs us billions a year. The system is broken. We’ve told people bring a kid and you get in due to loopholes. We have African migrants flying to Brazil then traveling to Mexico to cross the border because they’re criminals. Please wake up. We’re trying to mitigate chaos we simply cannot rage everyone you need control of this process. Canada won’t even take them.
8
Looks like the tariff threats against Mexico worked. Good job Mr. President!
28
What kind of headline is this? Talk to us when the levels drop back down to the lows seen during the Obama administration. Everything else is just "solving" a manufactured problem that wouldn't have even existed had Trump not incentivized a mad rush to the border in the first place with his anti-immigration talk. You don't "fix" a leaky roof by smashing 5 huge holes in it and then patching up one of those new holes.
11
So where do these people fleeing poverty, starvation, violence and death threats go? Why do we celebrate that they are gone? America has gotten to be such a mean, greedy and inhumane country. I find most of these comments on this board disgusting. Who on earth roots for the demise of other human beings? I hope when climate change worsens and Americans are on the march north, we remember the cruelty to others done at the border with such glee. Karma will not be kind.
12
@kay Actually, the violence has gone down in the Northern Triangle countries but the number of migrants has increased. Go figure. Looks like they are coming for economic advantages rather than fleeing a bad situation.
11
The big fish in the ocean eats the little fish. Thats NOT our problem.
4
One wonders if Trump had agents in Central America engineering the crisis earlier this year so Trump could magically solve it. It wouldn’t be the first time the US has messed with Central America for our own purposes, now would it? Ronald Reagan seemed to think it was okay.
8
It worked though. Thanks Donald.
2
@The Nattering Nabob
Isn't it more likely that the NGOs financed by Soros worked to encourage Central Americans to invade the US? The timing was perfect for helping Democrats flip the House.
6
@The Nattering Nabob Did you not see Senator Booker (D) return several who had been turned away last week?
Many voters, including those who despise the Trump administration, want illegal immigration to stop.
Democratic candidates have to tread a fine line in the next elections. They have to speak up against the cruelty of some of the measures taken by this administration. However, they need to have a plan for addressing this problem.
If they allow themselves to be painted as supporters of open borders by Fox, millions of voters will hold their nose and vote for Trump in 2020.
27
@AM, then they deserve the cruel, heartless and corrupt autocracy this country will continue becoming.
4
Perhaps the migrants are crossing the Atlantic to EU or whatever left of it.
1
Perhaps they are improving their home country. With US economic aid.
The Central American Countries are small and have small populations and low birth rates. They couldn't maintain the rate of emigration that was occurring this year in any case. An eventual steep drop was inevitable.
@Tony Mendoza Where are you getting these notions? Overpopulation is a huge problem in Central America.
4
Hezzah, we are successfully killing the dreams of thousands for a better life in America and are finally turning away people with enough ambition grit and endurance to walk up Central America just to get to America’s door, which was slammed in their face. They’re just coming here to get a welfare check? It Great to be an American Today!
13
Walk up to our door and not staying in Mexico
6
You realize they wouldn't be eligible for welfare, right?
9
@Beiruti Grit and endurance? Most of these people just took a bus through Mexico and then walked up to a border post. There are millions of more deserving people around the world who are separated by oceans and yet would make more of a contribution to American society. Immigration should be based on laws, not on whoever finds it easiest to show up at the border.
149
The times kept assuring me that nothing could be done, that the only course of action was to let in every bogus asylum claim, then give them more welfare benefits than American citizens get.
Guess they were wrong. Guess that when the government puts its foot down and declares that the law will be followed maybe people will start to listen.
309
@KM
Border crossings are up 50 percent since June 2016, when Obama was in charge of border security
Call this what you want, but the facts say Obama secured the border better than this guy
38
@KM The Times never said "nothing could be done". The Times said this is not how a civilized country does things. We don't separate toddlers from their parents and put them in cages without beds. We don't treat human beings like animals.The Times said there was plenty that could be done, like appointing enough judges to handle asylum claims - which are LEGAL. Acting like lawless monsters can get short term results. It also will bring us to ruin. Once we convince ourselves that the ends justify the means: that we're willing to torture innocenet children if that what it takes, we're lost. There is no justification for torturing children. Ever.
47
@ A Nobody... Nobody is torturing children. Calm down.
31
Perhaps a policy of maximum deterrence is actually working? Or that getting Mexico to do their part is stopping migrants from reaching the border.
Maybe the opposite policy of allowing everyone to come into America without question was actually creating a wave of people coming into the US.
201
That’s a really weird thought, because your flood of immygrants started over two years after Trump took office.
14
@Robert
The number of migrants coming without authorization shot up when President Obama created DACA and tried to create DAPA.
There was a temporary lull right after Trump was elected as potential migrants thought he might be able to stop them from entering the U.S. When it was realized that Trump could not stop them, the flood resumed.
30
Right? It’s almost, like, rational and effective if we actually stop illegal immigration then people stop trying to enter illegally. Who would’ve thought (other than millions of us trying to tell our representatives for DECADES to stop it)?
12
It's perfectly clear that people only need asylum when the weather is better for hiking.
46
@Margo, That's pretty mean as well as uninformed.
9
@Alx
No. It's actually rather clever.
22
Tell me, where are the missing girls that were taken from their parents at the border. Recruitment perhaps?
What's happening? Summer, that's what. The Sonoran Desert is harsh in the summer and folks wait for cooler times.
6
Don’t get too excited Trumpers, globalization and a looming recession means these numbers will change quickly.
We should be welcoming people. Americans aren’t having children. Even the people who decide to marry get a dog at most. We need the workers.
2
As I walked down the streets of Laredo,
As I walked out in Laredo one day,
The children were gone, the parents were missing,
A man told me that, they’d all gone away.
There was no more laughter, there was no more crying,
There was no more sound of life in the streets,
I ask the man where all the people had gone to,
He threw up his hands and began to weep.
They stay away now, far away, he told me.
They no longer think they are welcome here.
They want to be safe, they want to be happy,
They do not want to live lives of fear.
And so we are here on the streets of Laredo,
No children are playing, no people are seen.
The streets are empty, the houses are lonely,
All the fine people have all gone away.
3
I suppose if you shot everyone, fewer people would approach the border. Extreme example, but appropriate metaphor.
6
Perhaps the numbers can be manipulated? If the border patrol agents are too busy locking kids in cages, or logging into Facebook groups, then maybe a lot more border crossings are going unnoticed. I don't trust any numbers Trump's administration puts out to the public - it is all part of his contribution to fake news. If he lies about the number of people in the crowd at his swearing in, why wouldn't he lie about one of the most contentious policy issues he has failed at?
I thought I read in your very paper that it was because Mexico is doing a better job of not permitting individuals to attempt to cross the border to begin with. Your reporting on this issue continues to confuse.
18
The economist was reporting that the month of May saw the highest number of illegal crossing of the past 23 years and the number is going up. July 6 publication.
Dont know what to believe now...
5
@y
At what point was this “good news?” I am astounded every day at the absolute ignorance of people spouting off their righteous indignation at a history they know nothing about.
Every vegetable, bottle of wine, box you buy or receive has “illegals” written all over it. For those in my neighborhood, every mower or house cleaner is a part of a vast corporate machine that uses slave labor as their monetary vessel.
Perhaps even the New York Times who has stringers and delivery people harnessed to the same machine that is part of an oligarchy, not a democracy, we serve.
So do not dare say people running from a gangland created by Americans hooked on drugs are not willing to save their children from rape because of the heat of the sun.
Latin America is America and we better own up to it.
2
@H.A. Hyde
Actually, the man who does my lawn and landscaping is a US citizen. The couple who cleans my house, ironically, are US citizens (born here!). It is very presumptuous to assume what you did.
Not every farm worker is illegal and many jobs that were unionized were decimated by companies that discarded their workers and hired illegal immigrants at a fraction of the cost (and without having to care about safety regulations). If you look at the meatpacking industry, it was completely transformed by corporate greed. Having more illegal immigration only suppresses wages and makes for fewer opportunities for those who are supposed to live here--legal immigrants and citizens.
9
What to say -- the reporting is so bad.
So you are using one month? .. and no historical data?
The number were so high for almost a decade -- unnaturally high ... using the word "drop" is a joke.
4
California is the Largest Welfare State in the Nation, in the year 2014 we had 240 MILLION Vistors ...thats right allmost as many people as the entire Nation/ We have a Sanctuary State that the Voters did Not Vote for....and a Homeless Population that has by this New Governor been called a CRISIS...We can not afford any more poor undeducated people coming here ...go look at todays LA Times and the article on homeless or how even the people in Big Sur are rebellion against the flood of tourism / Trump is ABSOULTLEY Right about this from the Beginnning and its High Time everyone gets there act together and secures this Nation!
22
What does that any of that have to do with the present day illegal immigration crisis? When will reflecting on history books reconcile with the reality of our checkbooks? Just because most of the world is poorer than America doesn't mean America needs to subsidize most of the world.
1
@Lila Bear but why you you get too decide what is the immigration policy for our nation? Isn’t that playing god? Many disagree with your views.
1
Amazing news for the Trump administration!
Treat defenseless people with the same brutality, callousness, and lack of humanity that drug cartels and dictators treat those same defenseless people...and they don't want to be here either.
Such an impressive victory.
6
Look for the tunnels
3
https://www.pewhispanic.org/interactives/u-s-unauthorized-immigrants-by-state/
I find it interesting and telling that 10 of the 15 states with the highest populations of migrants (total or by percentage, excepting Texas) tend blue.
I expected, hearing the rhetoric, to see that Trump states had a bigger problem with immigration. Not so. Turns out it's just boring old xenophobia.
4
Speaking as a research scientist, we are not allowed to make bold claims based on one data point. It would make publishing a whole lot easier... but also worthless.
11
The American citizenry has absolutely no obligation to offer up our country as a sacrifice...a pressure release valve for the world’s impoverished, overpopulated Billions.
Meanwhile, our government’s obligation is to serve the best interests of our own citizenry, our own poor huddled masses...our elderly, our homeless, our veterans, and our own children. There’s plenty of work to be done on behalf of our fellow citizens. So get to it!
50
Why are migrants paying coyotes thousands of dollars when a bus ride from Guatemala to the Mexico/US border is $150?
23
A Democratic system or a republic require that we vote on laws or the people choose the legislators. What is wrong with that? Why are so man people convinced that illegal aliens should be respected? These are not refugees. These are simply poor people who want to come here. There are a lot of those, and if you bring 1,000,000 in simply because they are poor you have no excuse not to bring them all in.
34
Don't feel like working this week? kids a hassle? Rival drug leaders cutting in on your territory ?
Step across the border and get a free government paid vacation at a government Health Spa ,free food free medical,free entertainment ,free childcare ! what a deal ! and when you get bored just ask for free ticket home.
As a tax-paying citizen where do I sign up for this freebie?
30
@Bummero,
Bummer ain’t it? All that special ‘spa treatment’ on our dime for criminals and their kin. I imagine you take cue from our great leader who spends our tax dollars for worthier causes like weapons supplies to unstable regions. After all they help ignite wars that may help make America great again.
I bet you never knew about the real good ol’ days when our tax dollars were used to meddle, manipulate and plant seeds of instability to dislodge popular movements and maintain our ‘greatness’ in that region. Bummer indeed! Perhaps if you wish hard enough you may reincarnate in another life to get the same free spa life you deserve. My thoughts and prayers
2
You can sign up in your dreams. That’s the only place that this plan exists. Immigrants are paying social security tax that they will never benefit from. Immigrants can access only the barest of health benefits. Where is this spa sir? It’s taxation without representation with recent anti- brown bias thrown in. I am an immigrant.I patronize restaurants, Uber, vacation spots, cleaning services, etc. I maintain a good credit score. I don’t like to ask my husband to pay for my shopping, let alone bilking government benefits. I am proud that I don’t depend on anyone and know plenty of people like me.
Some of you say that God knew you were special. So he made sure you were born in America. Read that a couple of times - that’s the only way to justify blaming folks that jump off burning buildings hoping to land on safe ground.
2
@What illegal immigration costs well over 100 billion in tax later dollars a year. Ny and CA are spending 100 million providing free healthcare for illegals. The cost per head for school in nyc costs tax payers around 20,000 per head per student. A hospital birth well over $10,000. So let me get this straight. You think someone making poverty level wages is paying well over 20,000 a year in taxes in nyc to both put their kids in school and pay for Medicaid that is forced to cover hospital care? You’re dreaming. Most Americans don’t even pay federal taxes because they don’t make enough, but somehow magically you think poor migrants make enough to make a dent in costs? Ha! All it’s doing is making rich people wealthier by cheap labor.
5
Administration is lying? Why do their numbers deserve any respect, after everything, including their inability to come up with a coherent rationale for the census question. Failing “rational basis” review at the SCOTUS is an impressive feat!
1
What if the caravans of migrants, which we never saw before 6 months prior to the mid-terms, were organized by dirty tricksters or Russian agents. These caravans seemed quit organized. Impoverished people organizing caravans to the US border was a new phenomenon and not likely to happen spontaneously.
Now the organizing force/financial incentive has been removed.
What a victory for Trump's policies............not.
3
@John G
Gee,
Doesn't the Left ridicule the Right for "conspiracy theories".
Your comment certainly indicates the reverse.
13
Buried in this article is a single line that says that small numbers of citizens from India, China and Russia are still trickling in. I have written about this before (although I was unaware of Russians coming in through Mexico). These illegal entrants should be stopped altogether and right away, - there simply cannot be legal asylum claims from citizens of these countries (with perhaps the excpetion of Uighurs and Tibetans; but I doubt that these are the Chinese entrants). If this is not stopped, the numbers just from India and China will be unvbearable.
26
@Malone-- the borders need to be controlled for all immigrants.
20
@Malone
According to the asylum laws that are being abused,all you have to do is make a creditable claim to get temporary asylum. A creditable claim is one that is possible. Eighty to ninety percent will be denied.
Asylum is intended to protect people being persecuted by their governments, not for people seeking economic prosperity.
Individuals feeing natural disasters, political unrest, war and the like are supposed to stop in the first safe country and seek refugee status. And then wait in the safe country until they have been granted refugee status in the US or whatever country they are seeking legal residence. Although once a refugee has been granted permission to enter the US legally, he can apply for immigrant status, refugees are generally expected to return to their native countries once the situation there has returned to normal.
3
This is great news. Yes please it’s about time other countries helped. On a side note expect 4 more years of trump. I don’t know who the strategist is for my former party (I’m without party) but my god they are terrible and an embarrassment to this country. You could have beat him, he had many weak spots, but you just can’t seem to get it together. He’s sliding into 2020 smiling. If he curbs this further he’s going to be relentless for his last 4. Good job Dems and the press are you listening? You’re part of the problem.
28
@Location01 good comment. As a longtime Democrat, I want to know what happened to my party. Seems they have gone crazy. Is there any hope for them regaining their sanity?
3
@aldebaran honestly I don’t know. I think this is going to get far worse before it gets better because they’re flooding elections with progressives in low voter turnout districts like AOC in Queens. These progressives policies will not net the results they’re looking for and democrat moderates are wimps that won’t step up to them. Sadly the pandering has defied any of their logic and the media tells half truths.
1
I would hardly call a situation where people have lost all their assets and now must return to the violence and poverty of their homelands a success.
It is time for some thinking and strategy among countries to deal with this human tragedy.
2
@Joan Casey
Not to be callous, but this violence and poverty in their homelands does not prevent them from reproducing.
Personally, I can not begin to imagine that I would choose to have or expand a family if conditions were that bad.
Based on the fact that crime has more than halved in Honduras since 2011 leads me to think the situation is not as bad as described and that these are economic migrants.
When I see these countries trying to make an effort to control their population, I would be more sympathetic to their economic conditions. ...But as of now, it is simply unsustainable.
10
They need your approval to procreate? Are you pro-celibacy or abortion, sir if contraception fails? Or should the newborn be done away with? I’m sorry US government didn’t interfere with your grandparents marital rights when your family immigrated. If nothing, DJT has exposed how superficial is regard for human rights in USA.
1
@Blanche White
It is important to remember that US interventions historically and recently have led to this situation and we have a responsibility to help solve it. There is still much violence in places such as Guatemala. And people have the right to bear children. They are human.
People ridiculed Trump's deal with Mexico, demonstrating that criticism of Trump is often disengaged from reality. In fact, this was a smart move on Trump's part. Safety should be our first concern. Clearly we cannot adequately accommodate that large an influx of immigrants, and we have an obligation to do everything possible to discourage people from making that treacherous trip here.
32
Yes, apparently gaining a reputation for torturing children and ripping apart families dissuades people from coming here. Not a mention of that in this Trump-helping article.
Shameful omissions by the NYT in their pandering bid to seem 'objective' to conservatives.
4
@G
"ripping apart families"?
They can leave any time they want -- together --
straight back out of the USA.
24
I never thought the Statue of Liberty would become obsolete in my lifetime.
Some scrap metal company is going to be happy...
7
@Michael
The world’s approximately 6 Billion “poor, huddled masses” are about a century too late. The American industrial revolution is OVER....and it’s not coming back.
29
@Michael
The Statue of Liberty: Our new comprehensive immigration policy?
17
@Michael
The Statue of Liberty was conceived, funded and sculpted as a celebration of the end of slavery.
Edward Lazarus' poem was added later.
13
It sounds as though desperate migrants seeking asylum in these United States, having met cruel and deplorable conditions in U.S. private jails at the border, have chosen to endure violence at home instead, where at least they can speak their language and share their culture.
4
You write, “The difference suggested that the Trump administration’s long push to curtail the arrival of migrants at the southern border is finally showing results.
Since he took office, President Trump has made it a cornerstone of his administration to halt the flow of undocumented migrants, expanding security fencing, slowing processing at ports of entry and locking up record numbers of migrants.”
While it is refreshing to note an acknowledgement of the President’s successful policies albeit grudgingly, it should also be noted that Mr. Trump held his stance despite sustained name calling, vilification and outright disrespect of his position, person and family.
While the decline of migrants could be transitory and the border continues to be porous even now, the Congress must empower the President to take stronger, decisive and permanent actions such as building a border wall to curb illegal immigration.
One should not have to wait for another inevitable sweep of both houses by Republicans along with the presidency in 2020 for that.
26
A sharp drop in arrivals is misleading
In the past we were talking about 20000 a month
But under Trumps "leadership" it has ballooned to a hundred thousand + a month
so a 10% drop in trumps figure is meaningless in the big picture that's still 70000 more than in the past.
8
Let us assume for a moment that the worst predictions about global warming are true and Central America becomes uninhabitable. The United States has become hot, unstable and violent for the same reason.
What then is our obligation to citizens of Central America?
16
@Mike Murray MD
I will punt this question to the "Squad" to reply that question. ASP and AOC will be running for President.
2
The NY Times published an in-depth article last June 2018 "What it Costs to be Smuggled Across the U.S. Border". Up to $12,500, in the case of the young man's dangerous journey from El Salvador to Houston. That hard-earned money went to pay smugglers, drug dealers, gang and cartel members, and bribes along the way. Quoted in that article, "up to $500 million goes to groups fueling violence and instability in the region." Maybe we should cut off that income stream by fixing our laws and setting up asylum-application stations in those countries. Then it's only a $155 private bus ticket to Tijuana for the court date when called. No dragging children through the current horrors.
30
It's hot out there.
4
For 25,000 fewer illegal immigrants a month who decide either to stay at home or seek refuge in Mexico, I can put up with 125 loathsome tweets a month from an awful human being.
30
Why? Those 25000 people would have looked for work, gone to school, become productive members of American society, paid taxes and, statistically, committed fewer crimes and taken much less in public benefits than the average American born here.
Do you just hate the idea of a full labor force funding social security?
I won't say the stupidity of xenophobic politics is worse than the cruelty, but it sure is a competition at times.
3
@Alex
Tripe.
The total bennies they soak up (federal, state and local) far exceeds the total taxes they pay.
Social security?
Someday they too will claim Social Security,
creating a supposed "demand" for still more immigrants. A giant Ponzi scheme.
As soon as they are legalized, they will qualify.
And they can bring in their parents who are will be close to retirement age and start soaking up more bennies long before they ever "pay in" anything significant into the "system".
Even today, a rising share of immigrants are people already over 55 years old.
A much better solution to the social security problem is to raise the retirement age. People are living 15 years longer than they did previously. No reason they cannot work 5 of those additional 15 years. That still leaves them a net addition 10 years in retirement. A bargain.
Meantime, their presence in the workforce drives down wage levels for everyone. Employers love it. But not good for the American workforce.
16
@Alex Nope. We have people here who need jobs, who may already be using social services funded by taxes. We have an obligation to support those people and remove them from government support - that makes us stronger and better. Inserting badly educated illegal immigrants helps nobody.
1
This is good news -- at least for now.
But no reason to let up on efforts to reduce the flows.
We'll see what develops
Far too many "migrants" --
egged on by the pro-open-borders crowd --
have been abusing the gaping loopholes
in the loosey-goosey asylum laws.
There is no right to "asylum" from "poverty",
nor from "domestic violence",
nor from "gang violence".
Billions of people all over the world
suffer from those economic and cultural maladies,
and a host of others.
But massive immigration to the USA is not the solution --
nor is it the duty of the USA to put up with it.
39
A 17% drop in crossings compared to last June? What about June 2017? Or other years? And Trump's policies are to be "credited" for the drop? This is extraordinarily shoddy speculation and journalism.
8
@Callum you didn’t read this fully these figures are from dhs they are in fact real and we should be happy with 2,700 to 200 kids in cages since implementing the trade deal. Get out of your SF partisan bubble
3
"Finally showing results..." Is that how the Times categorizes the imprisonment and torture of innocent children?
7
@Howie Lisnoff
Tripe.
There is no torture.
Imprisonment?
More tripe.
Their parents can come get them any time and they can all leave -- all together -- straight back out of the USA.
No parents?
Then why is the USA responsible for that?
14
Trump cannot govern his way out of a paper bag, but this is by far his most successful policy. Too long, we have let leniency rule at our southern border. Now that enforcement has teeth, foreigners looking to game our asylum system have been discouraged.
We have a duty as a nation to provide asylum to those who deserve it, but the system has been deliberately overwhelmed by undeserving migrants motivated primarily by economic or family interest. It is their fault that the process has had to become more onerous for the deserving.
Trump still has shown no interest in the policy that would actually drive immigration compliance: enforcement by the Department of Labor against employers who hire illegal workers. Hopefully a future president will have the courage to put this policy into force.
25
Send us your blue berries, avocados, tomatoes, but leave your people south of the border. What a stance. Some day it's going to be America who needs great aid and the only two viable spots to go would be north into freezing Canada or south into hospitable Mexico. People willing to literally die making a journey (heroes if you were a white European sailing here in the 1640s and 1700s - HEROES) but now we call them trash and hold them caged treating them well below Geneva convention standards. I've written multiple times to my reps instructing them to pushback on these heinous POLICIES.
4
@Donna V
Far, far better to import cheap produce made/grown/harvested by cheap labor outside the USA than to import cheap labor to make/grow/harvest it here.
15
@Donna V would you seriously slam Canada like that? Canada with a merit based immigration system and capped asylum? Or would you go to corrupt Mexico. We give more money to countries than the world. Us trading produce with Mexico gives these people jobs.
2
I believe Trump created the mess for his base,the border and campaign promises. Slow down is do to weather, summer and the job cycle.
2
I hope the guy were not an idiot, but if his method is working, then Good Job, Mr. Trump.
.
12
Just means more people are dying in Guatemala.
3
@Kate Sweeny, RN
People die all over the world,
by the hundreds of thousands, every day.
Immigration to the USA is not the solution to that.
30
@Kate Sweeny, RN
If they are truly being persecuted, they could seek asylum elsewhere.
17
@ann Where would that be?
2
This whole feed is making me sick. Migrants pick our food, the grapes for your wine, mow your lawn and clean your houses. To deny it is just a bold faced lie.
Enough is enough. The conditions on the border are there because the Trump administration thinks blaming it on Democrats will win the White House.
He is using human beings, human beings, as political weapons in the same way the Nazis did. Anyone who denies it is either a liar or mentally defective.
The Republican party is siding with child rape, abuse and the violation of international human rights law. Have you forgotten, Mr. Romney, that you are on tape?
10
@H.A. Hyde
Perish the thought that the agriculture, construction, and domestic care industries might have to pay wages commensurate with back-breaking work in order to attract legal hires.
Lucille Bluth might have to pay her house cleaner $25 an hour without a steady stream of exploitable workers.
35
@herrbrahms
I agree. Now that you know about slave labor, let us up the minimum wage, give citizens descent healthcare and take on the corruption of the corporate state... oh wait, I think that is called a Democrat!
10
And still, crops are rotting on the vine in California.
And still, white trump supporters who insist they aren't racist and are just worried about immigrants taking all the jobs, are not taking any farm labor jobs.
And still, Southern Trump supporters who insist they aren't racist and are just concerned about the limited US budget being allocated to more "takers" than producers continue to leech and suckle at the teat of actually productive states like New York and California.
States that would love more immigrants, as long as theyre not the sort of miserable human being that thinks family separation is a reasonable "deterrent" to the crime of seeking the American dream the way all of our most admired ancestors did it - whole life on their back, with nothing in tow but their families and hope for a better tomorrow.
These numbers reflect summer months, a drop from an enormous peak, and presumably some impact from the atrocities we call an immigration policy these days. But no version of this story is a win for America.
8
@Alex
Ho Alex - good thought, less pot. You are almost there.
8
Who knew that committing atrocities and crimes against humanity was all we had to do to accomplish this? Well, I know one man who did. And he deserves all the credit!
2
Surprise! You don't say, enforcing the law(s) actually works?
Or maybe it is just too hot temps right now?
23
So...in addition to the tens of thousands of Central American migrants, we now have thousands of African migrants amassed at our border. And they fully expect to enter our country by any means necessary.
Oh, but we can’t use the word ‘invasion’.
40
Correct, because it isn’t an invasion.
1
@H
Ah, but it is an invasion.
And there are approximately 6 Billion people just like them living in overpopulated, impoverished third world countries who would join those caravans in a heartbeat if they could find a way. And they might very well do just that...
THEN what are you going to do?
33
Good job Trump. Maybe those who would illegally sneak into the country will now submit applications to immigrate legally.
37
@MIKEinNYC
This year has been the worst since the days of W "Heck Of A Job" Bush
If that's a good job, I don't want to see what a bad job looks like
1
@MIKEinNYC
Trump is doing a good job on immigration. All things considered.
14
There is no way for people without close family ties or high-level education/skills to immigrate under US laws that do not comport with our religious & ethical values, economic realities, nor common sense. They need honest work, we need honest workers, & our laws make this mutually beneficial arrangement impossible.
2
Irrespective of the "good news" it doesn't change the underlying motivation of U.S. immigration policy on the Southern border. That motivation pure and simple and beyond dispute is racism. Trump is racist and so are many of his adoring followers and sycophants who work for him, Fox News and other loathsome rightwing media institutions.
I don't care what they say. I don't care if some of them are from Latin America, the proof is in the sauce. Trump has based his presidency essentially on mobilizing white nationalism, a kick in the teeth to progressives, nonwhites and all the groups that support the anti-Trump agenda.
It also doesn't change the reality that the immigration crisis is not over. Trump and his evil doers (and that exactly what they are) are chomping at the bit to deport millions of people whose principal crimes are that they are nonwhite, poor and effectively powerless.
If this critique sounds too harsh it isn't. Much more can be said.
3
There is an obvious possibility that is not explored here.
Smugglers may well have changed methods, tactics and routes.
It's faulty reasoning to suppose that the only metric for determining crossings is people detected.
We have no way of know about those who are successfully smuggled in.
Smuggling is very much cat and mouse.
12
There is no possible way to smuggle 120,000 a month in undetected. They are probably smuggling small numbers of people in, but any more than that and someone will notice.
9
@BorisRoberts
You are making an unfounded assumption. How precisely do you know that 120,000 people cannot be smuggled in the course of a month?
Says the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime:
"There are an estimated 3 million illegal entries into the United States each year: between South and North America, most migrants are smuggled in trucks across the border, though cases have been noted where travel is also done by foot, rail or even through dedicated tunnels."
There is another flaw in the metric of people detained or returned.
It is quite common for immigrants to make more than one attempt to cross. Many do finally succeed.
8
@Ricardo Chavira
We'll get some idea of the real numbers from the screams from the education establishment that they need lots more money for more teachers and classrooms for the "children" -- and from the overrun ERs in the hospitals.
15
I think that after being told so long by Democrats that there was actually *no* crisis at the border, and then that a huge humanitarian crisis was present, we'll be back to the "no crisis" refrain shortly.
30
I’m already anticipating the pure glee and pride this administration will express at the fact that in the wealthiest country in the world, they intentionally created such horrible, inhumane conditions that families fleeing literal wars are now too scared to come here.
May Americans never forget this disgusting chapter of US history.
2
@Cassandra
According to Elizabeth Waren and her Dem pals,
we need to tax the "rich" -- and their wealth --
for all sorts of new bennies.
Well,
you can only spend all their wealth once,
and the more that is spent on non-Americans,
the less that will be available for Americans.
12
I guess the word is out that you will not automatically be released into the general population never to be heard from again.
47
A Guatemalan woman whose two year old daughter died as a result of neglect while in border patrol custody, testified before congress today. Her testimony was broadcast on CSpan 3. No network has picked up her testimony, but, everybody who calls themselves an American should watch it. In brief, she detailed watching her infant daughter develop a 104 degree temperature, for which she was given water and Tylenol, and slowly but painfully died over the course of weeks of a lung infection. Her mother watched her condition become critical and then watched her girl die. There are many others in this same situation tonight that find themselves in the custody of the American (our) government. This is us. This is being done in our name. Trump isn’t your president? My, how comforting for you. I was a Vietnam Marine. I have never been ashamed of being an American. That changed today!
7
This is child abuse by the parents. I would NOT put my children in this situation, NO MATTER WHAT. It is not the United States ŕault or responsibility to rescue these people. There is a concerted effort to overwhelm our Border Patrol and ICE, and also demonize them. They are our Border Security, they have a job to do. And people are calling for them to be disbanded? And then what? I haven't heard a workable solution to the child detentions, cut them loose? Who pays to house them, feed them, school them? All of them?
42
Boris, if they had put an ankle bracelet on the mom and released her to friends in the country, this child would still be alive. But then, that wouldn’t send a clear message of cruelty and danger to South America. Trump wants them to know “we will hurt you if you come here”. We need to take away peoples kids, abuse them, force women to drink toilet water. And republicans are okay with that.
2
@Martini
They were not drinking "toilet water" --
i.e. not water from the toilet bowl.
They were drinking perfectly safe potable water from the spigot on top of the toilet that brings water to a small sink on top of the tank on top of the toilet bowl that can be used for drinking and hand-washing before it drains from the sink into the tank on top of the toilet that, in turn, empties into the toilet bowl when it is flushed.
A common device in Asia -- including Japan --
where that water is perfectly safe to drink.
Bandying around claims about drinking "toilet water" is par for the course
for distortions by the MSM and the Dems and the rest of the pro-open borders crowd.
17
aaand he’s re-elected
30
Probably increases his odds of getting re-elected. That simple.
31
@Daniel B
If anyone looks at the actual chart he's in trouble
2
Maybe from the roar of laughter that went up when all the Democratic candidates raised their hands to the question if all illegal immigrants should be guaranteed free healthcare, some sensed maybe the well up here was running dry and decided it might not be worth the trip anymore because they knew they’d be stuck with Trump in 2020 as well after they got here so they went back home. Unfortunately an option those of us already stuck here don’t have.
38
@John Doe. The show of hands question was not for guaranteed free healthcare! The question was will your plan provide coverage. Big difference. Immigrants would still have to pay for coverage which reduces premiums for everybody.
1
@John Doe I repeat, Republicans need to trash those worn out scripts that the Republican high command sends out to their little folk to repeat, convince,brainwash others as they have been.
the numbers are partly falling because this administration threatened to slap a tariff on mexican goods unless that country stopped the refugees from coming to our borders. human carnage is continuing both in our immigrant jails' squalor and in the day to day scrabble across the border by people, who, in spite of their drastic plight in mexico, fled far worse.
7
35,000 Africans arrived in Chiapas, MX this week and American activists encouraged a large group to riot in Tijuana, which required the Mexican National Guard. US Asylum law requires that you are being persecuted by your government for your race, religion or another discrimination and restricted to crossing one border. Tijuana is the most dangerous city in the world, due to this invasion. San Salvador is #17, Guatemala City is #24 and Pedro de Sula is #26. Migrants explain activists in their towns advertise and recruit them with promises of an expense free life in the US. Obama supported the UN Global Compact on Migration, which Clinton was to sign in 2016. President Trump refused to risk our national security and our sovereignty. Mexico has depleted resources for 60 million impoverished citizens lacking food or shelter, while Soros’ Open Society funds activists, programs and attorneys with Democrat campaigns, which is the reason they are forcing the open border agenda. Mexican citizens support our President’s policies and the threat of tariffs. There have been protests demanding President AMLO withdraw from the UN Pact. Men are advised to bring a child, if they are criminals, which media refers to as a “family unit”. June 19th arrivals in Chiapas, MX were from Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Ghana, Mauritania, Togo, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen. President Trump must be elected in 2020 or our country will be gone.
37
@Kat Stop with the old GOP attack on George Soros when you have an entire GOP Senate compromising our country on a daily basis with their refusal to do their job and apply they checks and balances on the Executive Branch that is in a chaotic, unreasonable, nonfactual state, just as your comment is nonfactual, unreasonable, undocumented, chaotic, Use real sources not made up internet sites & phony GOP sites to spew your false claims.
3
On the surface this is good news for our country. With that said, I am dismayed that we had to break our own asylum laws, tear apart families, and commit many human rights violations to get to this point.
Does the ends justify the means? Did we sell our soul and relinquish the moral high ground to get here? I suppose the Trump supporters wanted this and are cheering on a president who had the guts to take on these drastic actions... something no decent person, let alone president of the most powerful nation on earth, would contemplate doing.
For me personally, as a human being, I’m not sure if we should be happy about this. I expect America to act with integrity and to be the beacon of hope for the world. Taking unlawful actions to achieve an end makes us no better than any other human rights violators in the rest of the world.
111
From the NYT’s recent Obit for Janne Nolan: ““Your conscience,” she said, “is a living, breathing organism that you cannot mess with too many times before you become a broken person.”
15
@YThe asylum laws have been abused by smugglers and others to overwhelm the border security and create a bigger humanitarian crisis. Then 80% of the asylum seekers never show up for the court date, so it is used to get entry and not a real asylum. The intent counts. The laws need amendment.
18
@Y. To quote a SCOTUS Justice, “ The Constitution is not a suicide pact.” Trump is defending America from invasion encouraged by the Democrats (and a few Republicans fixated on driving wages down).
11
when u pen ppl up like animals, sexually abuse kids and let them go sick and hungry, i guess they choose to take their chances back home. We may as well demo the Statue of Liberty at this point.
9
@Nate: the Statue of Liberty literally has not one thing to do with immigration -- zero, nada, zip.
You want the poem back (added decades later)? Sandblast it off. I'll even chip in to pay for that.
A POEM is not a policy nor a law! and it is 130 years old!
25
@Nate
The 19th-early 20th century industrial revolution is OVER...and it’s not coming back. So please stop dragging lady liberty into your argument for open borders.
22
@Concerned Citizen Hello? The fact that it is 130 years old means it has stood the test of time and the poem was written by Emma Lazarus as a tribute to America for what it did to help the dispossessed people of the World & it ends "I lift my Lamp Beside the Golden Door" meaning America's Beacon to the dispossessed should continue to shine. A Poem is a Reflection of Accomplishment & Pride in America. This poem is an honor & a tradition to Uphold. It's who we are; your lack of historical knowledge is as frightening as your statement here recorded.
1
Why can't we just annex the "Northern Triangle" as U.S. Territory? That would end the immigration crisis in a day.
4
Will the illegally deployed troops get to go home now?
Or do we still need them as campaign props?
7
This drop in immigration is no surprise, given the summer heat. But while Trump is crass and cruel, he is correct in this issue. The border is a crisis. At a time when we fail to support our own- and have failed for a long time now - how can we continue to allow in all these people who needs maximum help? I’m not optimistic that the DNC leadership will get it, but am hoping a couple of presidential candidates will.
28
May be they are coming by other routes?
3
Huh, it appears torturing people, separating them from their children, then torturing the children does make an impression.
On me, the impression is that I will never vote for a Republican again for any reason.
176
@Mr. Adams, knowing that, nobody I’m sure is going to unpack their bags while they lay low somewhere in Mexico waiting for the free Democratic open border giveaway to begin. Their waiting it out down there time might seem to fly by unlike for us this next year plus of incessant campaign demonizing is going to feel like an insufferable eternity.
16
@Mr. Adams
"separating them from their families"?
They can leave anytime they want -- together --
straight back out from the USA.
The USA is not stopping them.
42
@sam finn Leave anytime they want to go back to the crime, devastation, lack of food, that they came from? Any other great ideas?
6
The May number of crossings was the highest number in 12 years
Touting a drop from 12 year highs as a "success" is highly misleading
Per the DHS, the June 2019 total is more than 50 percent higher than the number of apprehensions in June 2016
50 percent higher than in Obama's last year, but the Times has the gall to suggest the current policies are "working"
Shameful framing by the Times and most other media outlets
Shameful
5
@Marion Grace Merriweather no actually this is good reporting the drop post policy is significant you should be happy -2,500 less kids in cages to now only have 200 that’s a 1,000 percent drop. I’d love to see that number be zero, but I guess you expect some miracle in Guatemala to slow down the hundreds of thousands fleeing on a regular basis. We now have 1 percent of the entire Guatemalan population living or trying to come here
1
Greeeat, problem solved. Since we're not seeing them today these humans must no longer be in need and we can pursue more subjugation without guilt. Lets let the oil companies et al continue to pillage their countries, corrupt powers of our own making that they have no defense against. Yeah they have homegrown corruption too, sure. As long as they don't show up here, hey, out of sight, right?
3
You attract more flies with sugar water than with vinegar.
Study any flow of currents, electric, hydraulic, or human. Reduce resistance on the current path, and the current will increase. Increase resistance, and the current will diminish.
Its a fundamental principle. in electricity, its called Ohm's Law.
9
“...finally showing results.” This is grotesque.
5
Good to see a downturn in migrant apprehensions. I do wonder though, at what percentage are migrants sneaking in without being apprehended. Obviously hard to track, but I have to think there are many that get through and are not apprehended?
8
@John Dyer
It's not even a real downturn
The May numbers were at a 12 year high
It's framing a failure as a success by comparing it to the single worst result in over a decade
2
Now is the time to build detention facilities that look a lot like a Marriott hotel. There should also be nice schools, parks, and free medical facilities nearby. That way no one will be able to complain that the illegal inmates are being mistreated. The U S can set the standard for high quality detention of criminals for the world. Or will liberals complain that homeless US citizens don’t get such good care?
42
@John, wow. I do hope you never find yourself in a position where the world deals you a bad hand (like a war in your country or a natural disaster or....) and you need some outside help.
5
But... in the main, that’s not why they’re coming. Apples and oranges.
6
We definitely need to built 5 start hotels for this people because you know we should spend our hard earned tax dollars on this non issue. Libs basically will go further than that if they had power thank god they don’t.
18
The rush to proclaim that trump's policies are working, are premature.
The graph showing monthly apprehensions at the SW border between Bush and Obama is telling. Factoring out the obvious difference in the number of average apprehensions, both show a consistent pattern of peaks and valleys in the number of apprehensions.
The spike in apprehensions shown for June 2019, is an anomaly. Mexico's efforts in apprehending migrants are window dressing in order to placate donald.
Given trump's inability to stay focused (Hey donald, where are all the jobs in Lordstown OH you promised), I suspect that the level of effort shown by Mexico in apprehending migrants will take advantage of that fact.
The same pattern of peaks and valleys will continue in the future.
In the meantime' what about the concentration camps used to warehouse people.
5
The Western powers have been exploiting the nations of Central/South America and Africa for decades. Stripping them of mineral wealth and other natural resources. Installing and propping up corrupt strongmen to further their greedy ambitions. Creating intolerable conditions for many millions of hard working, god fearing men, women and children.
Now when these mostly good people seek refuge from their miserable circumstances that the U.S. and European powers have fostered and created, the walls start to go up to keep what they have created from coming home to roost. It’s the gated community mentality taken to the most perverse extreme.
Lock the gates (of the country now), buy a gun, enjoy the latest episode of favorite television show, and marvel at how clever our disgrace of a President is because he’s chosen to ignore the real problems of these regions, and further punish the victims he’s helped create instead.
4
@Bear,
Creating intolerable conditions for many millions of hard working, god fearing men, women and children.
So you’re suggesting that we strip away their last remaining valuable assets as well? Rewarding the corrupt strongmen with their greedy ambitions to have it all for themselves? Very generous of you. Anybody ever stop to consider that maybe these people might want to keep their home if we helped them to? But we couldn’t possibly do that since we’re so evil. Charity begins at home, we should try it.
2
@Bear
But look at the populations of these countries: all young people having lots of kids. I agree that the people of these countries have been handed a very raw deal, but family planninf is something they need to address, as does everyone on the planet at this point
1
Children are being raped. People are being forced to stand up in overcrowded cells day and night. People are being forced to drink out of toilets. It is not the heat. It is “stay or go to a concentration camp.”
3
What’s happening to reduce the flow of immigrants? It happens every year around this time and lasts several months. It’s called summer.
Most Americans welcome LEGAL immigrants, but do not want ILLEGAL immigrants. They recognize that the US cannot afford (or choose not) to support our own citizens: the poor, the ill, elderly, disabled, veterans, et al., and that they and other US taxpayers cannot possibly support the hundreds of millions of foreigners who would like to come here.
US laws allow foreigners to seek entry and citizenship. Those who do not follow these laws are in this country illegally and should be detained and deported; this is policy in other countries, too.
The cruelty lies not in limiting legal immigration, or detaining and deporting illegal immigrants, or forcing those who wish to enter the US to wait for processing. What is cruel, unethical and probably illegal is encouraging parents to bring their children on the dangerous trek to US borders and teaching the parents how to game the system to enter the US by falsely claiming asylum, persecution, etc. Indeed, many believe bringing children on such perilous journeys constitutes child abuse.
No other nation has open borders, nor should the US.
39
The uS government has made it impossible for people to claim asylum in their own countries.
1
@Mon Ray
Yes, that is the real crime. One word describes the democrats' behavior in this regard: Deplorable.
6
Duh. Its the hot summer weather. Do you people have the ability to critically think at all?
3
This headline could easily make people think that the border situation is now under control and no longer a crisis but let's keep in mind that June's numbers are still nearly twice as high as those in December and more than double those of June 2018. This is still an untenable situation and we're a long way from solving it. For longer term perspective on border numbers: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration#
9
I Mean it when I say I HATE STEPHEN MILLER: the architect of cruelty, and now sexual assault and vengance on children.
4
@KatieBear, a hateful, mean-spirited person, for sure.
@Alx
Katiebear or Miller?
2
We recently spent two weeks on the Texas-Mexico border. The temperature is over 100, there is no water in the desert and border patrol was everywhere.
During the peak immigrant surge all I could contemplate was who was behind it?
But the biggest problems with illegal immigration is birthright citizenship, children being allowed in schools regardless of immigration status, the ability to be hired with small fines to the employer. These kids come in with no English language so our federal and local tax money is being used to accommodate them.
Stop birthright citizenship, no child illegally in the country getting free schooling, medical care and food. No illegal person obtaining any benefits at all. Increase employer fines substantially.
Merit based immigration is the fair way. Sneaking in should not put you ahead of the line of all the people who want to come legally in the country.
I do feel very bad that so many people are in this situation, but you cannot take care of the needs of everyone who sneaks in. Like they say on an airplane, put your own Oxygen mask on before helping someone else. As long as we have homeless veterans, working citizens who cannot afford health care, kids here legally who go hungry, and our schools are not top in the world, we have no business being the saviors of the world.
I know Trump will take credit but he did cause much of this claiming anyone can walk right in and we have to take them, stupidest laws in the world etc.
65
There are only so many people in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala that want to emigrate.
Could it be the Mexican government is now doing what the NY Times sneered it had already agreed to do months ago despite Trump's tariff threat, but for some strange reason finally got around to it by amazing coincidence just after the same tariff threat the NY Times automatically sneered at ... as usual for anything Trump proposes.
40
Maybe our policy is working better than the left wants to admit?
50
Or it’s 100 degrees at the border. Duh.
2
My, no illegals arriving.
The non-profit cannot bill the government as they have no illegals to house.
The Democrats cannot parrot that those poor illegals are being mistreated, and the solution is to elect Democrats to government.
What a tragedy!
20
Sorry to bear bad news, but 104,344 illegals apprehended in June 2019 is still over DOUBLE the amount of a year ago*. The rate also declined this time last year. This reduction is nothing to crow about.
*https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration
13
"Drastic drop..."
The headline for this article is completely misleading. As just reported, total southwest border apprehensions declined in June by 28% from the previous month. Last year total southwest border apprehensions also declined from May to June, in that case by 17%. In fact, apprehensions dropped from May to June in five of the last six years. Maybe June is hotter than May?
However, June of 2019's apprehension total was still a whooping 142% higher than the same month in 2018 - 104,344 vs. 43,180!
The Jewish Family Service's facility in San Diego may be virtually empty, but clearly many others are not.
The NYT needs to stop trying to dodge the reality of what is happening on our southern borders. We are a nation of immigrants, and we should continue to welcome many newcomers each year. However, that process should be controlled by fair and workable laws put in place by our elected officials. In failing to fix the currently unworkable situation, our elected officials are clearly failing us.
16
I am mystified that the Jewish Family Service of San Diego doesn’t instead fund a facility in Tijuana, especially in light of the fact that their “shelter is almost eerily empty”. Their money will definitely feed and house more people in Tijuana than they could ever hope to service in San Diego; they could probably rent enough space in Tijuana to accommodate thousands for a fraction of what they currently spend in San Diego.
10
@NorthernVirginia
A facility in the USA is protected by American laws and American law enforcement. A facility in Mexico is not.
3
President Trump’s child separation policy must be working. To drive the numbers even lower we can place snipers at the border and start shooting children approaching the border. That would send a strong message. As long as you can sleep at night.
It’s called the weather.
3
Maybe the parents don’t want their children stolen, housed as less than human, starved, and sexually abused.
85
@Anita Larson
Children and young women are FAR, FAR, FAR more likely to be abused, stolen, trafficked, starved, and sexually assaulted on the dangerous journey with human smugglers shuffling them through Mexico and across into the US.
Coyotes and cartels are absolutely horrible, and if there's moral blame for anyone in the US it's on those who are providing false hope in the form of sanctuary cities, promises of amnesty and loose asylum laws and thus *encouraging* would-be migrants to align themselves with them.
48
@Cameron
Amén. Our “leaders” need to hear this... and open their hard hearts...
1
@Anita Larson
Isn’t that they’re supposed to be fleeing? More like benefit shopping.
19
It’s the heat.....
1
Most Americans welcome LEGAL immigrants, but do not want ILLEGAL immigrants. They recognize that the US cannot afford (or choose not) to support our own citizens: the poor, the ill, elderly, disabled, veterans, et al., and that they and other US taxpayers cannot possibly support the hundreds of millions of foreigners who would like to come here.
US laws allow foreigners to seek entry and citizenship. Those who do not follow these laws are in this country illegally and should be detained and deported; this is policy in other countries, too.
The cruelty lies not in limiting legal immigration, or detaining and deporting illegal immigrants, or forcing those who wish to enter the US to wait for processing. What is cruel, unethical and probably illegal is encouraging parents to bring their children on the dangerous trek to US borders and teaching the parents how to game the system to enter the US by falsely claiming asylum, persecution, etc. Indeed, many believe bringing children on such perilous journeys constitutes child abuse.
No other nation has open borders, nor should the US.
15
Also Mexico has tried to block the funding for those enabling, organizing, promoting large scale migration, in other words, the cartels.
11
So people, who allegedly were in mortal fear for their lives, suddenly decided to take the bus back to the killing fields because the prospect of waiting around in a shelter in Northern Mexico until October for their hearing seemed to be a bit too much of a buzzkill? I can't see real survivors of violence--say the Tutsi's in Rwanda--making that call.
50
@john o MD
Dido. They are not slowing down. The Trump Administration run by Mr. Miller is and are abominations.
1
@john o MD, solomon's choice we've provided them with. Die at home or die in a camp waiting for a hearing.
1
The temperature. Trump intimidated Mexico into helping. Turning them back at the border. Turning them loose into the US. The important thing is none of this is a long term plan. We need to make it clear that you are more than likely wasting your time coming here as most people will be rejected as economic migrants. And oh yeah, don't bring the kid as prop, you'll be sent back as a family. Then we need to get down to the hard work. Helping those countries control their birth rate, improve their economies, get security and develop sustainable economic systems. The northern triangle have seen their populations rise by 4-6 x since the 50s. If this issue isn't addressed nothing will get better. the democrats willhave to stop throwing inducements to illegal immigration out there. If they don't they won't be elected next year anyway. Then we need to decide what we are going to do about our unsustainable population and economy in this country.
7
Nobody here will say it so I will. Trump's plans are working.
My fingers have just informed me that for being ordered to type this they are asking for asylum and want to go to somebody else's hand. I don't blame them.
37
@Travelers
This year has been the worst since 2007
Nobody here will say it so I will. Trump's plans are not working.
There is a sad irony that is often missed in the fierce immigration debate: accepting more asylum seekers further destabilizes the very countries people are fleeing. Massive population loss will only push these countries to spiral more. I’m not sure what the solution is, but this reality must be addressed when having an empirical, rational debate on the subject.
17
@Dan, amen to that! No one seems to be talking about long term solutions or some of the root causes. Sense would indicate that what we have been seeing is simply not sustainable, for a number of reasons. These countries need serious aid and assistance, and the US has millions of people already here that need living wages, housing, and healthcare. This current "administration" is only making an already terrible situation worse and causing people to suffer.
The story's title is "there is a trend in seasonal data". When a single data point - the difference between May & June 2019 - is the basis for a story, it needs other data to put the one data point in some context. It is really easy to shock people with single data points on almost any topic, but it is also irresponsible.
This means we need to look at the comparable period in recent years. What happened in May & June of 2018 and 2017, and maybe earlier. If the one data point from 2019 still stands out as different, that is a story. If it does not, it may be worth reporting on when Trump claims his policies are working.
We can be fairly sure Trump's policies were timed with the summer decrease in mind, and apparently that is all it takes to trick the NYT into printing a corroborating story.
3
So, what about the children in detention centers? How does this fare for them?
1
Can’t help but think that this is the calm before the storm.
4
The US has always promoted itself as a land of opportunity, the land of the free and the home of the brave. This encourages people to want to come. Just maybe, under the Trump regime, this all sounds a bit like false advertising.
1
If the United States was not here for the illegal aliens to invade, what and where would they go?
Mankind will always look for a free ride, that's how it is.
What's wrong with Mexico, Cuba or even Venezuela as a land of opportunity for the Central Americans?
Or what's wrong with starting a revolution in their own country?
Why must the United States be the only open door?
Mexico, the USA, and Brazil were created about the same time in history and all by Europeans, Britain, Spain or Portugal.
All developed in their own ways.
The other Latin countries have all survived.
So they have choices.
23
You watch. Trump will use the logical effect of the weather - always hot at this time of year (and worse now due to climate change) - to declare victory for his administration's policies.
1
Looks like the torch has been extinguished.
4
You are actually asking this question. ?
The answer is obvious !!
Trump stopped running radio ad’s in the countries extolling the virtues of the us
And why did I he run the ad’s
To build up people the exodus and this justify his wall
So...in other words....despite all the histrionics and obstructionism coming from the Left, Trump’s border policies are having the desired effect.
29
Perhaps Trump's generous welcome of refugees is responsible. In any case: KEEP THEM OUT!
8
I’m suspicious of this. Could be lies. Could be seasonal. But I hope it’s true and I hope it’s a trend that continues.
We need to win the Senate and White House 2020. To many voters, Democrats seem to ONLY care about Latinos and immigrants.
Immigration (illegal immigration, lax asylum practices, economic migration, foreign workers and investors) and enforcement is the ONE issue where progressives disagree with Democrats the most — NOT because of xenophobia or racism or any of the “emotionally charged” reasons people like to attach to anyone who says they are against illegal immigration — but because the current practices are unsustainable, economically and ecologically. The current immigration system is not fair to We The People taxpayers or the immigrants who apply for entry and citizenship through proper channels.
Stop thinking with emotions, Think about this issue pragmatically and objectively. How many millions of third-world unskilled, helpless, uneducated, unhealthy humans (many from catholic nations that make lots of babies) can we take in each month? We already have too many veterans, homeless, drug addicted, desperate, indigent, poor, elderly, needy, helpless who are NOT getting help. Let’s get our house in order. We need to stop allowing corporations and billionaires to steal our tax dollars. We need social services and protections for citizens. Then we can take a look at helping other nations.
33
Let's wait until it cools off in September to see if this is due to weather or if people were scared off by the detention camps.
If the latter, is that really the way to win? Deplorable.
1
@If it feels wrong, it probably is, it is deplorable. What we need is well-planned, comprehensive reform, period. For everyone's good. Why can't people see that? Trump's policies, seemingly unbeknownst to him, are just destabilizing the Central American countries and creating more suffering migrants.
1
The last time the Mexican Military was involved in discouraging migrants, we found the mass graves later.
They have most likely been killed in Central America. Only the insistence on human rights by the American government had prevented their slaughter. Trump has made it very clear that human rights are not a factor in his policy decisions. So, the migrants are most likely being killed again.
3
Looks like Trump is doing his job as voters wanted.
14
@abdul74, not this voter.
@abdul74
Trump delivers. It's why they hate him so much.
2
I'm guessing the heat of the summer is a contributing factor.
1
To quote and to paraphrase Santana and Everlast, my personal plea to all you cynical commentators for some compassion for our fellow human beings:
‘Hey now, All you sinners’ (that’s many of us; let he who is without sin cast the first stone), ‘Put your lights on’ (be a beacon of hope)
‘All you children, Leave your lights on, You better leave your lights on, 'Cause there's a monster, Living under my bed, Whispering in my ear’ (these are the conditions that the migrants are escaping)
‘There's an angel, With a hand on my head, She say I've got nothing to fear’ (the parents and other migrants who trust that things will get better if they take a chance)
‘There's a darkness, Livin' deep in my soul, I still got a purpose to serve’ (the migrants are on the verge of despair but they know they can be contributing members of society)
‘So let your light shine, Deep into my hole, God, don't let me lose my nerve’ (the migrants wish to live decently, and escape the deplorable conditions in their countries, despite their fears in undertaking their journeys)
‘We all shine like stars, And then we fade away’.(We are all born human, and we all end up the same, in oblivion).
2
@Jazzie, yes a little compassion. And I would describe the cynicism as far worse... meaness and cruelty to talk of others in the ways people are in these comments.
1
What’s happened? Every one sees the photo of Oscar Alberto Martinez and his little girl.
How cruel this USA has become. Very sad.
2
Don't start cheering yet. This drop is the natural summer slow down. It's good news that the numbers are falling. But it doesn't change the fact that Democrats and the media kept insisting for months and months there was no crisis and this had to reach epic proportions to finally get some kind of handle on it. I hope Trump and the Democrats still will finally get together and be honest about it and close the loophole that let illegal immigrants use their children as passports. The next most important thing after that is to continue working with Mexico -- no stopping their good efforts -- and the Central American countries to come up with good ideas backed by determined efforts to find ways to revitalize those countries' economies so people won't have to flee. Then Trump should restore all foreign aid with an emphasis on health care and nutrition, seeing as how many children are undernourished. It would help greatly to lift the yoke of the church so people are free to learn about their options for birth control. Their children are not there to be used to benefit their parents. Better that than starve to death or expect to bring all their problems to a country that is struggling with issues of its own. Above all now, no letting up, Mexico needs to keep its word.
70
@gmt The crisis is all of Trumps making and Im glad I no longer pay income taxes to support it.
6
@gmt not a MILITARY crisis, not a need for a wall, or troops.....a humanitarian crisis, always.
our response is impose cruelty, slap criminal penalties where none should exist, tear children from their parents, line the pockets of immigrant jail owners with enough money to actually house them in a decent way, treat the refugees worse than the coyotes, in some instances, with rape and starvation. it is not even mexico's problem, most come from farther south.
5
@DG
You mean Trump tricked them into trying to come?
The Dems and the pro-open-borders crowd egged them on into coming despite the hazards and despite the low chances of legal success on their claims.
16
Gotta love Trump supporters.
They refrain from commenting on border crossings until the number drops to 104,000 (June 2019). Then they leap into action, jamming the comments' columns witn boasts that Trump's policies are working.
The fact that crossings were between 30,000 and 50,000 a month during the last three years of the Obama Administration in no way mitigates their enthusiasm. After all, such statistics can be categorized as fake news and, therefore don't count. Yessiree, they've got it covered.
Trump supporters - you have to admire their loyalty.
75
@Mike Edwards
Really, from someone who is a who? A Hillary supporter? Priceless.
19
@Mike Edwards another condescending and simplistic view of us deplorable Trumpers.
9
@Mike Edwards
Obama's term ended before the Central Americans started copying the Africans and Middle Easterners in how to grossly abuse the gaping loopholes in the loosey-goosey asylum regime in order to try to get into Europe.
Unfortunately for the USA,
the USA has been a lot slower than the Europeans
in taking action against the abuse --
thanks to the excessively elaborate, expensive and time-consuming "process" of our legal system.
11
Encouraging unregulated migration of thousands of economic migrants to come to the US, claiming asylum because of gang violence in those failed “democracies “, is not sustainable for the US tax payer. Mexico is now paying the social and financial costs of facilitating for decades the free movement of migrants bent on breaking our laws. Few want to stay in Mexico because their goal is the US social benefits we generously offer to anyone in the country. US. Trump’s strategy is working. And that fact alone has earned my vote for him in 2020.
126
@Son of A. Bierce Many US tax payers are undocumented immigrants.
6
@Son of A. Bierce Absolutely laughable that you consider social services in the US as “generous.”
12
I dare say that when you paint all asylum seekers as wanting to freeload off the US taxpayers that’s a pretty big and rather nasty broad cynical brush you paint, isn’t it? I wonder if you claim Christianity as your faith as well? I do not think we should have open borders, and illegal
Immigration law must be enforced. Nonetheless, a mother with a child living in Guatemala may truly be looking to escape gang rape, starvation, and death, in the same way the Holy Family took flight into Egypt during Herod’s rage to seek and kill every firstborn Jewish male.
Many readers this evening are overflowing with crocodile tears in their welcome compassion and concern for our society’s most vulnerable: the homeless, the disabled, our Veterans, and the hungry. Write to this president and his fellow Republicans and tell them of this newfound compassion and concern. At least this is consistent with the Gospel teachings of Christ. Saying all asylum seekers are mere freeloaders is certainly not.
14
What’s happening?
Money talks like no other language does.
Trump got Mexico to help us, like no previous presidents could, with his tariff threat.
Apparently even Mother Nature - with her scorching heat - is helping Trump.
58
@Bhaskar: Why is Trump in total denial of climate change?
3
It's summer. It's hard enough to walk through the Sonoran or Chihuahuan Deserts when it's 50 F. When it's 120 F, people wait until autumn.
11
If your children are facing being raped or killed by drug lords supplying cocaine to L.A. moguls, you flee - no matter the “heat.”
5
It’s over 100 degrees F now. That’s what’s happening
11
Well, Trump’s numbers this last month are still three times that of Obama’s June numbers of illegal crossings. What did Obama do differently?
1
This doesn't of course do anything to solve the problem of refugees fleeing dysfunctional countries; it just shuffles it around. However, the Democratic presidential hopefuls had better take note. Many of the people they have to win over (moderates and independents) are in favor of getting immigration under control and will think of this as a step in the right direction. The Democrats need sensible and coherent policies to sell to these people and they need it fast, or we're looking at four more years of Trump.
185
No Democrat is for open borders. We are for a civil and humane way of responding to a crisis fueled by America’s addiction to cocaine and heroin and the President’s withdrawal of funding to Central American countries that would stem the flow of refugees.
The border agents have now credibly been charged with child rape and abuse. This is a systemic behavioral disease stemming from Trump and his open hatred for both immigrants and women.
I live in a Republican neighborhood and am appalled that a tax cut can allow my neighbors to vote for someone so inhumane. His children are equally guilty.
How can any American in good conscience continue support for an obvious incompetent despot? Ivanka sold a sink hole in Cabo to naive investors. They bilked millions out of investors in Dubai in a project that was never built. What does it take to say “enough” and save our country?
9
@PJ
The world is chock full of dysfunctional countries. This is regrettable, but we can neither accommodate all of them and they are not our responsibility.
This issue alone is sufficient to swing the election to Trump. Contrary to your last statement, though, I do not think that a bad idea at all.
29
Yes. Even many of us that don’t consider ourselves moderate (pro-socialized medicine, child care, wealth tax, billionaire tax, pro-Warren economic policies) do want to shut down the border and do not think we can help all the people in dysfunctional countries. Actually, some of us think they should stay so they fix their countries and we can’t drain the brains and talent from them.
36
$155 for a return ticket. Sounds like a bargain. Better than to provide room and board.
73
My guess is - fear that the border would soon be closed caused a wave that crested. This is the trough that follows. If this is simply a return to the norm, it's hardly a victory.
How does this compare to the same time last year? NPR said last week that migration always decreases in summer
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It's a combination of the seasonal cycle of illegal border crossings combined with the news of blocked crossings discouraging others from trying it.
Europe has responded with similar actions, preventing ships loaded with migrants from landing on their shores. What Trump is doing is cynical and inhumane, but it is working to some degree.
The fact is, the U.S. and Europe cannot take in all the world's poor, uneducated and unskilled third world population in such huge numbers without serious damage to their own societies. A country has a right to control who comes to their country, and prospective immigrants must follow the rules and come legally. In the meantime, the developed world needs to increase aid and political pressure to reduce the conditions that push people to try this. Addressing climate change would be a good start.
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@Robert Kennedy
My response to the West needs to control the flow of migrants (totally reasonable and correct) is that the West must also stop going on military adventures just for the fun of it it, or, more correctly, the profit. War profiteering is a real thing in the US. Well the 1%. We didn't need to smash up Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Honduras, Venezuela, or any of these other places. The voices like yours that are against migrants coming to our shores must be equally vociferous in denouncing their countries' militarism. Again, they're here because we're there!
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@Robert kennedy Except that showing up at our border and request asylum is legal! People seem to always conveniently forget that as well as the US role in making these people's lives so difficult in their home countries to begin with.
And Americans should always remind themselves that their comfy lives are not because they are better than anyone else but simply because they got lucky by birth.
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@Robert kennedy
Of all the things ruining our society, immigration seems far down the list. We have a grifter in the White House, the current plan to combat climate change seems to be to fill sand bags and throw paper towels, and we apparently give shocking leeway to out-of-control predators who just happen to be way-too-chummy with two presidents with their own issues in that area.
Coming here seeking asylum is not illegal. It may be described as a loophole by some, but it is not some recent legal invention. We turned away people fleeing the Nazis, it only makes sense that we strive to make sure any future errors are in the opposite direction.
9
It’s the peak of summer and the risk of dehydration, heat stroke, and other related concerns is higher than it was last year.
That’s it. That’s the whole thing.
Everything is cyclical. The amount of illegal border crossings goes down around this time every year, just like how the number of jobs created goes up every year leading into Christmas and the stock market slows down in January to accommodate traders’ vacations. Even desperate people will not willingly take a trip that is likely to kill them when a less deadly travel window is on the horizon.
Doesn’t make for much of a headline though, does it?
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@Liz Joyce No, and I'm angry that the Times is even playing into Trump's framing with this headline. To fail to even address the seasonal flow of migrants is extreme negligence in reporting.
4
Making illegal entry legal will only make the problem worse-detest Trump, but this has been a problem for years- and due to Congress’s abdication of it’s responsibility....
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@Liz Joyce
Advocates frequently talk about families and individuals desperate enough to crawl across burning desert to get to America. It is supposedly a measure of their desperation. And now, you say it is not? They hold back for cooler times?
17
Perhaps the myth of getting asylum if you travel with children is finally being shown for what it is ; no more free pass and moldering in overcrowded detention centers either in the U.S. or in overcrowded shelters in Mexico , no steak and eggs for breakfast , a foil blanket , no toothbrushes , soap , diapers , etc . The saddest of all , the photo of the drowned father and baby .
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@sm
Don't tell that to the Dems. It may be too overwhelming emotionally to plant the idea that maybe the chaos at the border is not only NOT manufactured by Trump as the Trump-hate media was telling us for months up until just a few weeks ago, but that perhaps Trump had a point after all NOT based on raw racism and fascism? And considering Dems are just starting to cope with the cognitive dissonance of the Muller Report not finding anything worth indicting over vis a vis the Grand Trump-Putin Treason Collusion Conspiracy Theory, it may be better to wait with this type of observation for another couple of weeks or months ... or spring it on them once the 2020 election campaigns are in full swing.
12
Trump will hail this as a personal victory and I think so will a lot of voters. Unfortunately, unless the economy tanks or something else happens, I don’t see how the unfocused feuding Democrats will beat Trump.
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@Mitchell Karin
Mitch: It's called "Having the last laugh." Or alternatively "He who laughs last, laughs loudest."
2
Focus on the issue here - immigration policy and people trying to get into (and Stay) into the United States who do not have the rights to do so. Politician's focus on the plights of this uneducated, sick, low skill mass of humanity, does not address any of the reason any country has immigration laws (we are not the first to have such laws - see the plight of the European countries that allowed uncontrolled migration from south of the meditrainian). The issue is not Trump or the democrats - politicians must address the immigration issue or we will always have two sides to this problem and starving, dead migrants will be the results. Focus on the game and not the participants, unless you are a politician, then focusing on your opponents seems to be the only thing they can focus on...
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@Mitchell Karin
the "unfocused feuding Democrats" are battling over humanitarian methods to fix the immigration situation, versus Trump's Draconian dullard methods.
The problem is not the varied proposed methods of the Democratic candidates, but rather the low intelligence of USA voters who would rather listen to spin than facts.
3
Good article, but I'd be interested in also seeing something on how those transporting migrants aggressively solicit them.
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Posing the question: "What's happening?" suggests that the article will answer the question, perhaps to some degree of complexity; in fact, it's just an amalgam of numbers reflecting a decrease.
13
Currently more Mexicans are going back to Mexico than are coming into US. It used to be the other way until we began helping them with some of the problems we had created there.
Central America will be no different. We created their collapsing governments and terrorizing drug gangs. The victims of our policies will flee those countries and gain access into US one way or another. With the asylum route "clogged" they will seek other ways such as the traditional "illegal crossing and melting into the latino communities". The numbers will look better if you are foolish enough to trust them - but reality will remain.
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@Ivan, we haven’t intervened in Honduran, Salvadoran or Guatemalan domestic politics in 30 years. Sure, we’ve deported MS-13 felons. How about some accountability for systemic corruption, crime and income in quality being put on those host-country governments, instead.
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My guess: it’s dangerously hot to cross the border.
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“The United States policy to return people to Mexico and the pressure on Mexico to stop the migration are having a big impact,” said Daniel Bribiescas, an immigration lawyer in Tijuana.
He might be a fool but on this issue Trump was right
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The larger cruise ships at full occupancy can hold 5500 passengers; a bad month will see 4800 apprehensions per day. Buy 30 of these specially built cruise ships-- not adapted for luxury-- and sail one every day or so out of California with the daily arrivals, bound for the ports of the Central American countries in question for dropoff. The passage takes about 6 days; plenty of time to give everyone on board more information about how to properly apply for immigration or asylum-- from their home country of course. Short-term and long-term accommodation problems: solved. Nothing to stop them from trying their luck at the border again of course; except the time, effort, and expense.
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@Alexander Expensive, wasteful and fraught with risk. No thanks.
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@Alexander not much of a solution unless you are a ship builder....
@Alexander In other words, turn them away like we did the Jews during WWII.
2
Trump’s decisions are working
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@NYC Dweller
Very cruel solutions often work for a while, and then...
19 century capitalism was the most efficient system (measuring how much material goods were produced) it was also the most cruel with very young children working 15+ hours a day, greatly damaging the environment , etc. Eventually it lead to great depression, great sufferings, global wars and revolutions.
11
Oh my. The level of ridiculousness is astounding..
1
@KJ apples and oranges?
4
Maybe them border cops are cookin' the books!
5
Maybe the Times could send a reporter down to Central America to find out who is profiting from emigration. One of the migrants said he sold his farm to get money to pay his smuggler. Whom did he sell to and is that person buying up small land holdings to create a big farm? What's happening in the towns that must be emptying out for several years? Some group is benefiting. Is it actively working to push the population out?
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The towns are not emptying because despite tons of people leaving their population is exploding. They have around 4 kids each so a family farm that supported 2 adults and 4 kids in the 70’s needs to support 16 or more people now. Birth control is the answer.
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Why go south? We already know whonprofits from illegal immigration- the business owners in the US who hire (exploit) them.
Lock them up!
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@PWR Who’s profiting? Everyone but American taxpayers. The leaders of these countries which get a significant portion of their GDP from remittances and don’t have to take care of their own people. Honduras and El Salvador get 20% of their GDP from money sent back by ‘immigrants’ while American taxpayers fund their healthcare and education. Mass unfettered illegal immigration is big business
26
We should be celebrating a decline of illegal immigration.
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@JC
It's been declining for years. Before Trump.
7
@JC It is legal for anyone to show up at the border and ask for asylum. What is illegal is how the US government is treating these people (immoral too). Unless you are an American Indian or Mexican (the SW was once part of Mexico) then your ancestors arrived here the same way.
So many hypocrites in this country!
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@JC
We should be, however ...
Illegal immigration reached a 12 year high in May, and these June numbers are 50% worse than they were in Obama's final year
Illegal immigration has skyrocketed - and nobody is cheering
4
It is good to hear that the Trump policies on immigration are working - Return to Mexico and the Mexican government efforts to return migrants to their home countries are working. I would suggest that the US pay the bus fare for any migrant wanting to return to their home countries as a way to speed up the dispersal of these illegal aliens.
I would also suggest that when we rescue people from the Rio Grande, that we return them to Mexico instead of bringing them to the US or sending for Mexican government officials to rescue them.
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@Judith weller Or maybe revise our policies that affect their home countries so they have less reason to leave to begin with? Haven't you ever questioned why they are leaving so desperately?
1
Yet other border facilities are dangerously overcrowded...that makes sense how???
7
‘Bout time......
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Trump's Mexico plan is working. One more win.
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@Fred His only win.
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@Davina Wolf
The economy? Oh yeah, that was all Obama. It's only when the economy is tanking will it be Trump's.
1
Create a crisis - then solve it. Man if Trump could put his energy to use on problems he didn't first create himself.
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@Ivan But first the Democrats declared it was not a crisis but then after the show for the TVs by the candidates they all declared there was a crisis. So which is it?
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I think Trump people call this WINNING.
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@Sparky Jones I thought that was Charlie Sheen
I'll start off by saying I'm backing Warren for president but this development looks to be fairly positive considering the alternative is holding people in awful detention centers separated from their children.
I would expect if I tried to live in Canada without a legal reason for being there that I would immediately be put on a bus back home and given a court date to plead my case. Not arrested so I'm warming to making entering illegally a civil affair.
Perhaps these backed up courts could use more creative options by allowing people to use video conferencing during their court hearings so they wouldn't need to be locked up or disappear into America or sit homeless in Mexico waiting for their time to plead their case. This is easily done with cell phones.
I feel for the horrible state their countries are in but unless American expands to include all of central America we can't just let entire countries of low skilled people move here at once. American needs to find a way to help stabilize these countries for everyone's best interests.
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@Shannon
Expanding America to include all of central America sounds like a good idea...oh, wait....
15
@Shannon, yes. We need comprehensive immigration reform to heal a broken system. We would try to have this be a win/win situation. We must work with other countries to aid the Central American nations that have their citizens streaming out of them. The recent situation is not sustainable. We must take good care of those that are there now, and have been there for long periods, and we need to get working on a reasonable solution for the ones to come and for the U.S.
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@Shannon
I, too, had been supporting Warren financially, until I found out just today she is embracing #IfNotNow. THAT I do not support.
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Obviously there are only so many refugees as it is an acute issue not a chronic one.
2
It’s possible Mexico is doing its job on their southern border. It’s also possible pictures of the detention centers are reaching Central America.
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What happened? For one thing summer happened. It could well be that it is just too hot to make the journey.
Generally, migrant caravans have been during Easter week, the caravan linking into the Way of the Cross. An exception, of course, is the Trump Caravan, which linked into the US mid-term election.
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@Juvenal451 It could definitely be a summer thing -- we'll find out if this is permanent in the fall.
4
It's going to be harder to get help thanks to all this nonsense.
4
That is not true. What you really mean is that it’s going to be harder to get “cheap” and “off-the-books” help...
7
Oh no, it's working.
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@P&L
You mean that making people cross illegally and hide from border patrol- instead of seeking out border patrol and request asylum - that was the goal?
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@P&L, if so, the lesson for Trump is that the more we torture kids and rip them from their parents’ arms, the better. In other words, no one goes to North Korea asking for asylum. MAGA
10
@P&L
The article failed to report that the hot summer is when the migrant population drops every year.
7