BORDER/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The number of people arrested for illegally crossing the U.S. border declined for the second consecutive month in July, according to government data. U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested 31,303 border crossers last month, an 8% decline from June, according to the arrest figures compiled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. July is the first full month after the Trump administration halted its policy to separate families and prosecute parents for crossing the border illegally. About 9,258 immigrants traveling as families were arrested in July, compared with about 9,400 in June. Most are expected to ask for asylum in the U.S…The number of families and unaccompanied children caught crossing the border illegally had been on the rise in recent months, and the overall volume of illegal border crossers has been described as a crisis by Trump administration officials. Fewer than 4,000 unaccompanied children were also arrested at the border in July, a decline of more than 1,000 compared with June. The administration’s hard-line immigration policies have been widely criticized, with many Republicans and Democrats alike opposed to the family-separation policy. Immigration advocates have said would-be asylum seekers are fearful of how they will be treated in the U.S. but continue to come to the country amid widespread violence in their home countries.”
–Alicia A. Caldwell, “Arrests at U.S. Border Fell in July Amid Changes in Immigration Policy,” The Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2018 12:37 pm