BORDER/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The number of migrants caught crossing the southwest border continued a sharp decline in August, according to preliminary figures obtained by POLITICO. Border Patrol arrested roughly 51,000 migrants in August, a 30 percent drop from the previous month. The latest figures signal that counter-migration measures instituted by the Trump administration may be reducing the number of border crossers. Border arrests rose from July to August in eight of the last 10 years, which suggests the current drop is not related to recent historical patterns. President Donald Trump has made reducing illegal immigration a major focus of his administration and nascent reelection campaign, with mixed results. The number of migrants arrested at the border soared in the spring to the highest monthly levels in more than a decade. At the peak, Border Patrol arrested nearly 133,000 migrants at the southwest border, the biggest monthly total since March 2006.”
–Ted Hesson, “Border arrests continued to drop in August amid Trump crackdown,” Politico, September 4, 2019 2:46 pm