Washington (CNN)The Trump administration on Tuesday sought to blame Democrats for what it calls a “border crisis,” claiming that Democrats were standing in the way of much-needed laws.
The reality is more complicated, and the blame cannot be placed squarely on Democrats.
In a call with reporters, White House top adviser Stephen Miller made a series of assertions in his argument that Congress should pass laws sought by the administration on illegal immigration, particularly migration by families and children.
“The current immigration and border crisis and all of the attendant concerns it raises are the exclusive product of loopholes in federal immigration law that Democrats refuse to close,” Miller said, citing a law to combat human trafficking, asylum law and court settlements that have protected children from detention.
“These are all provisions that the administration has sought to rectify and sent proposals to close these loopholes, and the only reason they’re not in law, those fixes today are exclusively and solely because of Democrats and only because of Democrats in Washington,” Miller continued. “If we were to have those fixes in federal law, the migrant crisis emanating from Central America would largely be solved in a very short period of time.”
In March and April of this year, there was a seasonal uptick in illegal border crossings, resulting in roughly 38,000 apprehensions of people crossing illegally each of those months. With just over 16,000 Border Patrol agents stationed at the southern border, that comes out to roughly two-and-a-half apprehensions per agent per month.
In most every year tracked except for last year, crossings tend to trend upwards in the spring, as weather for the journey improves.
The numbers for 2018 are still consistent with Obama administration years — slightly below fiscal years 2013 and 2014 but slightly above 2015 and 2016.
The crossings in April of this year were more than triple April 2017, but that comparison is distorted, as crossings last April were at lower levels unseen in modern history before they started to pick up and stabilize more in line with recent years.
Crossings have been trending downward for decades and are at historic lows, prompting Homeland Security to declare last fall that the border is the most secure than it has ever been.
In fiscal year 2017, there were just over 304,000 apprehensions of people crossing the border illegally — the lowest ever recorded, DHS said at the time, touting it as a 40-year low. In the first seven months of fiscal year 2018, there have been 211,821 apprehensions, a pace that would slightly exceed last year’s level.
The administration has complained in particular about the greater share of these crossings that involve children and family units, which have picked up in recent years, but are not inconsistent with the last few years of the Obama administration. In fiscal year 2017, family units were roughly 25% of all apprehensions and unaccompanied children accounted for roughly 14%, according to Customs and Border Protection statistics. Last month family units were 25% of apprehensions and unaccompanied children were another 11%.
The administration has branded as “loopholes” a series of laws that are designed to provide human rights and due process rights protections to immigrants, especially children.
“To be clear, asylum is…
