Despite the Trump Administration’s hardline policies, migrants fleeing poverty and crime in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras continue to travel through Mexico to try to enter the United States. In February alone, some 76,000 individuals, mostly families, were apprehended on the southwest border. President Donald Trump who campaigned on bolstering border security was apparently increasingly frustrated with Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen and fired her Sunday. Nielsen spoke briefly Monday.
I shared the president’s goal of securing the border. I will continue to support all efforts to address the humanitarian and security crisis on the border. Trump announced currently US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McCauley as the acting official to replace Nielson, and appears to be gearing up for an even more hardline stance on immigration.
On Monday, the White House did not rule out that Trump is considering reinstating a policy of separating migrant children from their families at the border. Separation of families, you know, the president has said before, he does not like that. It’s a horrible practice, but Congress has a way to fix that, so it will not be a magnet for people to come here to use children to do it. Family separation was implemented from April to June of last year, and was overturned in a court decision. It faced massive public outrage and did not reduce the number of migrants.
In fact, more individuals were coming here, so I think it’s the administration trying to find ways to deter these individuals, but the problem is deterrence doesn’t address the conditions in sending countries. For instance, it won’t address the violence and will address the poverty; it won’t address the fact that a lot of these individuals just simply see no other option.
Trump continues to blame opposition Democrats who are challenging his national emergency declaration at the border. Unfortunately, Democrats have refused to close immigration loopholes. That’s it is really what all about. Last Thursday, Trump backtracked on his threat to close a southern border, and praised Mexico for doing more to stop the flow of migrants. But by the end of the week, he was directing aides to take tougher steps to address the problem, and is reportedly considering firing more people. Patsy Widakuswara, VOA News, at the White House.
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