West Wing Reads: Border Patrol Says Apprehensions in the Rio Grande Valley Have Already Surpassed All of 2018

Border Patrol Says Apprehensions in the Rio Grande Valley Have Already Surpassed All of 2018 “Less than seven months into the fiscal year, the number of undocumented immigrants who have been apprehended or turned themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley has already surpassed last year’s total,” Julian Aguilar reports for The Texas Tribune. “The increase is the result of an ongoing surge of migrants, most of them from Central America, who are crossing the border to seek asylum. The 2019 total for the Rio Grande Valley includes 15,310 unaccompanied minors apprehended from October through March — compared to 23,760 during the entire 2018 fiscal year.” Click here to read more.

“One of the proudest moments of my life was standing beside President Donald J. Trump in the Oval Office to witness him sign the First Step Act, a historic criminal-justice reform bill that would make American communities safer, improve hundreds of thousands of lives and change the way we think about prisons,” Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner writes in TIME. “America’s democracy is the greatest governing system in the world. It was designed to be stubborn and slow, yet open to change when enough citizens agree on needed progress.”

“With House Democrats in full witch-hunt mode, President Trump is unquestionably right to dismiss them — that is, to cite executive privilege and other legitimate reasons to frustrate Rep. Jerry Nadler & Co.’s fishing expeditions,” the New York Post editorial board writes. “Nadler’s Judiciary Committee is looking to win points with the Democratic base by conducting endless re-investigations of everything covered by special counsel Bob Mueller’s extensive probe.”

“Speaking at the 2019 Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit at a downtown Atlanta hotel, the first lady said saving Americans from opioid addiction was an issue ‘close to all of our hearts,’” FOX 5 Atlanta reports. “I have seen firsthand the medical and personal results of this crisis,” Mrs. Trump said, highlighting her experiences touring medical facilities as part of her “Be Best” initiative. “Speaking about the damage the epidemic has inflicted on families, the first lady said she and the administration are committed to supporting additional treatment facilities that would help ‘both mothers and babies recover and replace the bond of addiction with the bond of love.’”