BORDER/CENTRAL AMERICA/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s remarks in recent days about a caravan of Central American migrants heading toward the United States have stirred up a political frenzy — in the process distorting reality and ignoring basic facts. Such caravans are nothing new — a smaller one formed last spring, and similar caravans have been organized regularly for the past two decades. There’s no evidence that the caravan includes Middle Easterners, much less terrorists, as the president has suggested, and annual border crossings remain low by the standards of recent history…Trump has tweeted that the caravan is a result of ‘pathetic Immigration Laws’ that Democrats refuse to change. But Trump-backed immigration bills that would toughen asylum standards and fund a border wall made no progress this year in the Senate or the House, despite both being controlled by Republicans. It’s unclear whether the measures backed by the White House would discourage migration from poverty- and violence-ridden countries such as Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.”
–Ted Hesson, “Trump has whipped up a frenzy on the migrant caravan. Here are the facts.,” Politico, October 23, 2018 6:28 pm