Illegal Southwest border crossings were down 40% last month, according to just released Customs and Border Protection numbers -- a sign that President Donald Trump's hardline rhetoric and policies on immigration may be having a deterrent effect.
Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly himself announced the month-to-month numbers, statistics that CBP usually quietly posts on its website without fanfare.
According to CBP data, the 40% drop in illegal Southwest border crossings from January to February is far outside normal seasonal trends. Typically, the January to February change is actually an increase of 10% to 20%.
The drop breaks a nearly 20-year trend, as CBP data going back to 2000 shows an uptick in apprehensions every February.
The number of apprehensions and inadmissible individuals presenting at the border was 18,762 people in February, down from 31,578 in January.
It will still take months to figure out if the decrease in apprehensions is an indication of a lasting Trump effect on immigration patterns. Numbers tend to decrease seasonally in the winter and increase into the spring months.
But the sharp downtick after an uptick at the end of the Obama administration could fit the narrative that it takes tough rhetoric on immigration -- backed up by policy -- to get word-of-mouth warnings to undocumented immigrants making the harrowing journey to the border.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/politics/border-crossings-huge-drop-trump-tough-talk/index.html
Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday March 13 2017, @05:42PM (2 children)
The State Department does what the President tells it to. It is not independent. If he wants to do all the diplomacy himself, that's his choice and makes zero difference to our relations.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @06:06PM
You clearly have zero idea how the state department works. Else you would have never written such a ridiculous non-sequitur.
The state department builds relationships with other countries.
Without competent people building and maintaining those relationships, the ability to conduct diplomacy is crippled.
Trump is no more able to "do all the diplomacy himself" than he is able to "do all the science" of the DoE himself.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @08:51PM
All hail the new police state! All hail our great new leader Drumpf! All hail FASCISM! For good measure lets toss TMB in the pen first, let him see what his bullshit amounts to.