After a tumultuous 35 days of partial government shutdown, President Donald Trump declared a temporary end. «It’ll happen fast,» he told his audience in the Rose Garden on Friday.
«The requests we have put before Congress are vital to ending the humanitarian and security crisis on our southern border.»
Trump has returned to this line time and again in the debate over the border wall. This statement makes two claims: that there’s a security crisis and a humanitarian one at the border. Here’s what the numbers show.
In terms of volume, border apprehensions have increased compared with 2017 but are still well shy of previous years, when arrests topped more than a million. In the early to mid-2000s, there were months when well over 100,000 migrants were apprehended illegally crossing the southern border.
In terms of a humanitarian crisis, the administration has increasingly used this language, saying families won’t try to make an often-dangerous journey to the US if a wall is built. In December, the deaths of two undocumented children in US custody attracted scrutiny on the conditions of US facilities that hold those picked up crossing the border illegally.
In recent years there’s been a shift in the population that’s approached the US-Mexico border — from single men to families and children, many of whom are seeking asylum. In December, US Border Patrol arrested 27,518 family members, up nearly 240% from the previous December, which had 8,120 arrests. They also largely come from the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras).
Violence, drought and poor economic conditions in these countries are among the reasons that some have decided to make the journey.
In 2016, nearly half of the people apprehended at the US-Mexico border came from these three countries, compared with roughly 10% in 2010, according to Homeland Security Department data.
Existing barriers
«Our country has built 654 miles of barriers over the last 15 years and every career Border Patrol agent I have spoken with has told me that walls work.»
Trump is correct to say that physical barriers cover 654 miles of the southern border, which stretches for nearly 2,000 miles. Here’s a breakdown of the two kinds of fencing that exist:
What’s known as vehicle fencing covers 280 miles. This is fencing that’s low to the ground. It would stop a car, but people can easily step over it. Much of this fencing exists in sparsely populated areas where it would be dangerous for people to travel.
What’s known as pedestrian fencing covers some 374 miles. This is taller and designed to block people from crossing on foot.
Construction of the federally funded border fence as we know it began with a 14-mile stretch near San Diego. Construction started during George H. W. Bush’s presidency and continued into Bill Clinton’s first term. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act, which Clinton signed into law in 1996, authorized the fortification of that fencing.
