BORDER/IMMIGRATION/MEXICO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The number of people arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border in November rose to the highest monthly level of the Trump presidency, according to preliminary statistics obtained by POLITICO. Border Patrol arrested 51,856 migrants in November — a 78 percent increase over the same month a year earlier. Families made up roughly half of those caught crossing the border. The agency nabbed 25,172 family members in November, according to the preliminary data. The family arrests amount to the highest monthly total since federal officials began compiling such statistics in fiscal year 2012. The rising arrests come as President Donald Trump has pressed for $5 billion to fund a border wall, along with more money for other border security measures. The administration has experimented with a number of hard-line policies of late, including a presidential proclamation to limit the ability of migrants to seek asylum and the deployment of thousands of troops to the border. While arrests have increased in recent months, the overall annual totals under Trump remain far below the levels of the 1990s and aughts, and on a par with those during the tenure of former President Barack Obama. The previous single-month high in overall border arrests during Trump’s presidency came in October. Border Patrol arrested 50,975 people that month.”
–Ted Hesson, “Border arrests climbed in November to highest level of Trump era,” Politico, December 6, 2018 5:30 pm