1600 Daily

The White House • April 9, 2019 The world’s worst immigration laws  Time and again, President Donald J. Trump has warned that America’s immigration and border security systems are outdated and at risk of being overwhelmed. Today, nearly 3 years after he first issued a call to action, that is exactly what is happening. The problem begins with a broken patchwork of immigration loopholes and opportunistic court rulings, which President Trump has asked Congress to help him fix for more than a year. The situation only grows worse by the day. “A liberal activist judge in San Francisco ruled the United States and Mexico can’t work together to address asylum issues at the border,” Press Secretary Sarah Sanders wrote this morning. Congress chose not to act. So President Trump alone must address the consequences. In March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents were involved in more than 100,000 border enforcement actions—the highest number for any single month in more than a decade. For context, that figure is up more than 500 percent since March 2017. Behind these numbers is a new story and a new problem. In the past, a large majority of illegal immigrants were single adult males from Mexico who could be returned across the border quickly. Today, the surge comes from “asylum seekers” from Central America, many of whom are coached by smugglers on how to exploit America’s generous system for refugees. The predictable result is a meltdown at our border, as law enforcement resources and personnel are diverted from core responsibilities and stretched far beyond capacity. On Friday, President Trump got a firsthand look at the emergency on our border. There’s no way to prepare for “the amount of people, ‘family units,’ and children, and now organized caravans that are coming across this border today,” Gloria Chavez, Chief Patrol Agent of the El Centro Sector, told him. “Our agents are being stretched in so many different directions.” All of this can be fixed by Congress committing to immigration principles that a large majority of Americans agree with. But for now, it is up to President Trump to enforce our laws and close the gaps in our porous border. “It’s sad that Mexico is now doing more to secure our border than Democrats,” Press Secretary Sanders writes. “President Trump will do whatever it takes to keep Americans safe.” Asylum “child cages”—Obama built them. The media just didn’t care.  Statement: Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on district court ruling  Real reform for American taxpayers When tax reform was being debated in Washington two years ago, President Trump had a non-negotiable priority: giving working families a fair shake. Because of this commitment, Americans are seeing welcome changes when filing their tax returns this year. One of those changes is a doubled child tax credit. When parents check that box this year, they’ll notice the credit has jumped from $1,000 to $2,000—per child.     Watch: Ivanka Trump on the new doubled child tax credit   Since its passage, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has helped millions of Americans receive bonuses, wage increases, and other important benefits. With 2019 Tax Day almost here, Americans are beginning to see the full weight of the reform that’s been delivered. See how President Trump’s tax reform is benefitting every community.  Photo of the Day Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead President Donald J. Trump meets with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt | April 9, 2019