Donald Trump Looming Over White House Sparks Illegal Migrant Surge Before Wall Emerges
Donald Trump’s promise to tighten America’s borders sends a surge of Central American illegal migrants towards the U.S. before he arrives in Washington, claims a new report. Some argue the escalation in illegal migrate numbers have nothing to do with Trump and his promise of a wall, but others contribute the surge to Trump’s promise of guarding the borders with extreme vigilance.
The number of migrates apprehended in November along the southwest border of the U.S. is staggering and Trump’s promise of a wall is cited as a major factor for this large number. According to The Wall Street Journal many of these migrants were hoping to “sneak in” before Trump takes office. The border patrol picked up 47,214 migrants in November alone and when compared to the same month last year the numbers are up 44 percent. With less than a month to go before Trump takes his place in the White House, those wanting to make the trek see this as the last opportunity to do so.
An average of 1,300 illegal migrants a day were apprehended making their way across the border over the last six months. If you compare that number to the number of migrants caught making the trek in the same time period last year, it is a 30 percent increase.
The chief of operations of the Border Patrol’s sector in Grand Valley cites June of 2014 as the busiest month ever recorded for apprehending illegal migrants at the border. Jose Villarea is not only the chief of operations, but he has 31 years under his belt on the border, so he has seen the difference in illegal migrants attempting to come into the U.S. from year to year. He calls June of 2014 their “high-water mark” and today they are “trending toward 2014 numbers,” said Villarea.
Migrants from Mexico have been on a decline for the last decade. Due to poverty and gang-related violence, migrants from Central America have been on the up-swing long before Trump started a political career. This increase started before Trump’s name was even a whisper in the race for the White House. While this surge does involve people wanting to escape the violence and poverty, Trump has been a “wild-card factor” since gaining notoriety during his campaign, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Trump’s promise of walling off the border, extreme vetting and deporting illegals back to their country of origin has made an impact. There is a rush on before all these promises materialize. This is seen in the increase of illegal’s flocking to the borders ahead of Donald Trump stepping into the White House.
Contrary to the reports that the Trump-factor is bumping up the illegal migrant numbers, the Statesman reports the immigration spike is not tied to the promise of a Trump wall. They cite Geraldo Rivera’s report on Fox News about the surge of immigrant children seen coming over the border due to a looming Trump wall as “false.”
Rivera reported “tens of thousands” of children are flocking to the U.S., but the Statesman reports that while children are coming, it is not at all near the level Rivera reported. Rivera cites the pending wall as the main push bringing kids across the border, but Denise Gilman, the director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law doesn’t see it that way.
Gilman, who has talked with both mothers and children who have come into the U.S., finds it’s the deplorable conditions they are fleeing. She said “almost all are seeking refugee protection in the form of asylum. Political Fact also disagrees with Geraldo’s statement on Trump’s wall being the reason behind the surge of children illegal migrants. Geraldo cited the increase in November’s number of illegal migrants in comparison to November of 2015 while on a segment of Fox News with Sean Hannity. He contributes that jump in number to Trump’s pending wall.
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Geraldo said,“They’re coming because they fear the wall. They fear that the wall will start construction on Jan. 20, and they won’t be able to come and go the way they have been for decades.” Geraldo’s main focus was on the amount of children making the trek from Central America to the U.S. before the construction of Trump’s wall. The number of children he reported as being in the “tens of thousands” was a number questioned by both the Statesman and PolitiFact as possibly being exaggerated.
While Rivera did mention the conditions in Central America as one of the factors prompting the need for these people to leave, he did put this proposed wall of Trump’s as one of the major factors pushing the larger numbers of immigrants this way today. The Statesman reports it is the living conditions of poverty, violence, lack of educational and lack of employment that is sparking the surge in illegal migrants, which was cited by the Congressional Research Service back in August of this year. Still the latest report by the Wall Street Journal finds the Trump-factor responsible for a large amount of the increase in numbers.
[Featured Photo by AP/Eric Gay, File]
