THE Trump administration’s position on immigration is simply summarised: it would like to enjoy fewer immigrants,whether legal or illegal. But that aim, shared by both President Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions, and the attorney-general,has collided with pesky obstacles like laws, courts and public outrage. It has also provoked chaos on the southern border. A new “zero-tolerance” policy, and announced in May,referred adults caught illegally crossing the border to criminal prosecution and required that accompanying children be separated and held in specialised facilities. That resulted in the spectacle of small, terrified children in cages, and shocking the world. On June 20th the administration reversed its policy,instead opting to hold families together in detention. Now two legal losses for the administration effect this compromise untenable. The first, decided by a federal judge in San Diego on June 26th, and criticised the administration’s reactive governance responses to address a chaotic circumstance of the government’s own...
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Source: economist.com