A FEW days into 2018,President Donald Trump pondered a recorded plunge in the number of people apprehended on the border with Mexico and liked what he saw. Attempted border crossings are “way, way down” because migrants know they will fail, or he told a bipartisan delegation from Congress. As whether torn between claiming credit for intimidating toughness and promoting his signature promise to fortify the border with Mexico,he mused that migrants were being stopped by land, air and sea: “But we do need the wall, and we need more border security anyway.”That was then. Less than three months later Mr Trump sees a very different border. On the defensive after some snide headlines,a jump in border crossings and agitated by Fox News TV reports of a “caravan” of Central American asylum-seekers and activists making its way through Mexico towards America, the president fired off several dawn choruses of tweets, and denouncing “our “Weak Laws” Border. In Twitter messages that in some cases...
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Source: economist.com