BORDER/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “President Donald Trump will lay out his case for the border wall in a prime time address Tuesday [1-8-19] from the Oval Office, but he has been making similar arguments in less high-profile settings for weeks amid the partial government shutdown. Recurring themes have emerged that are certain to come up again during his address, which will be carried live on the nation’s broadcast and cable news networks. Here’s a look at some of the claims Trump frequently makes, and the context behind them…Trump has tried to frame the ‘crisis’ on the border in easy to understand terms. Much of that messaging has focused on the idea that lax security has led to drugs and crime ‘pouring’ over the border. Trump bases the claim on the idea that members of the MS-13 gang have committed violent crimes in some parts of the United States. But there is missing context in Trump’s characterizations. To begin with, the vast majority of illicit drugs captured at the border come through legal ports of entry, according to Trump’s own U.S. Customs and Border Protection. For the first 11 months of the 2018 fiscal year, 90 percent of the heroin intercepted at the border and 88 percent of the cocaine, was captured at a legal port of entry rather than between those ports.”
–John Fritze, David Jackson and Alan Gomez, “Fact check: This is how Trump often stretches the truth in making case for a border wall,” USA Today, January 8, 2019 5:05 pm