BORDER/DHS/GOP/MEXICO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump is thrusting his hard-line posture on immigration back to the fore this week, with plans for a Friday [4-5-19] trip to the southern border and possible new executive actions to restrict border crossings. But days after Trump renewed his long-standing threat to shut down the southern border entirely, even administration officials and congressional Republicans were bewildered and guessing at his next move on a defining issue of his presidency. And some Hill Republicans warned that any dramatic disruption to regular traffic across the U.S.-Mexico border could bring Trump into a new confrontation with his own party, whose leaders warn that closing parts or all of the border would wreak economic havoc. On Monday [4-1-19], the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to require that greater numbers of non-Mexican asylum-seekers stay in Mexico while they wait for their cases to be resolved and to speed up the reassignment of 750 customs officers to process arriving migrants. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is considering closing some of the lanes at ports of entry or preventing certain types of vehicles or people from crossing the border as he tries to force Mexico to increase its enforcement, three outside advisers told POLITICO.”
–Anita Kumar, Ted Hesson and Burgess Everett, “Trump bewilders GOP allies on immigration ahead of border visit,” Politico, April 1, 2019 7:55 pm