In the first part of today's story, I stated all of the facts learned about the border laws and policy. In this entry, I'll break down the surge in activity in the southern border that brought this story to the forefront of the news.
Pulling the monthly illegal immigration information at the southern border for 2018 we see the following. Border apprehensions by month (UAC = unaccompanied children)
January: 3,207 UAC's & 5,654 family units – total activity down 16% year over year
February: 3,122 UAC's & 5,475 family units – total activity up 56% year over year
March: 4,145 UAC's & 8,873 family units – total activity up 203% year over year
Zero tolerance policy went into effect April 6th
April: 4,302 UAC's & 9,653 family units – total activity up 270% year over year
May: 6,405 UAC's & 9,485 family units – total activity up 160% year over year
Clearly, the word got out about the opportunity for illegal immigrants to potentially seek asylum at the southern border. While the news media attempts to smear the Trump administration's policy of enforcing the law, it's evident there's an enormous need to do so. The facts back up exactly what the Department of Homeland Security had indicated. What organization faced with illegal activity spiking like this wouldn't seek a solution to stem the tide of it? It'd be irresponsible not to take action. Also, as I indicated last week, the activity peaked in April and early May, but the news media didn't decide to share that information either. The perceived crisis was just discovered and reported on by media in recent weeks, most commonly through a biased prism devoid of all of the facts I've shared with you. Like many, I believe existing policy needs to change as well but that must take place legislatively. We've got bigger problems on our hands in this country and many should do some serious soul-searching.
Photo by: Mario Tama/Getty Images