BORDER/CENTRAL AMERICA/ICE/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Federal immigration and health officials were blindsided by President Donald Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy on migrants crossing the southwest border, triggering a cascade of problems as agencies struggled with the fallout from family separations, congressional investigators said in a critical report issued Wednesday [10-24-18]. The investigation by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office dissects the consequences of launching a major policy change without consulting with the agencies that have to carry it out. The report makes no recommendations as it reconstructs a turbulent episode for the Trump administration. With the White House considering tougher immigration measures as a caravan of migrants slowly heads north from Central America, the GAO report stands as a cautionary tale…The report focuses on Homeland Security agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol, part of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, along with the Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR, which traditionally has had responsibility for providing shelter for unaccompanied minors detained at the border.”
–The Associated Press, “Report: Agencies Blindsided by Trump Immigration Order,” The New York Times online, October 24, 2018