Who is supporting the immigrant caravan?

[Typical Lax Dad]

The Economist:


James is preparing himself for the home stretch of the election campaign by unplugging and plunging into a lake somewhere in Pennsylvania (I think), so this week’s newsletter has a different author. Here at Economist HQ we have been thinking about mass deportations, a phrase that has gone from insult to slogan. At the RNC in Milwaukee people waved “MASS DEPORTATION” campaign signs. Donald Trump has taken to promising the biggest deportation programme in American history. Our colleague Aryn Braun went to Texas, where she spent time in an immigration detention centre and an immigration court, with the aim of working out how many people Mr Trump could actually deport if he really wanted to. That piece is here, accompanied by a leader.

There’s a chart in Aryn’s piece that shows what’s been happening with deportations over the past 30 years.

A removal (dark red) is when the federal government arrests someone, puts them in an immigration detention centre or jail and then puts them on a plane or a bus back to their home country. Removals peaked under Barack Obama’s presidency. A return is when someone who is in the United States is told to go back and does so. Returns were much higher in the 1990s and 2000s, when most migrants were Mexicans crossing the southern border. In recent years, many more migrants have come from Central America, or farther afield, which makes returning them harder.

You will hear a lot of competing claims about these numbers in the election campaign, but you can see from the chart that, taken together, removals and returns were higher in the last fiscal year (2023) than at any point under Mr Trump’s presidency. The grey bar confuses the story, though. These are “Title 42 expulsions”.

Title 42 is a public-health law that allows migrants to be expelled without due process when the federal government is worried about the spread of infectious diseases, like covid-19. Those numbers are so high because Title 42 was used to return people who had just crossed the border illegally. Many of them tried to cross multiple times, and so were returned under Title 42 multiple times. The Harris campaign could use these Title 42 numbers to claim that the current administration has been far tougher than the Trump administration, but that would be misleading.

Editing the story and writing the leader also got me thinking about how often it seems things can’t go on like this—and how usually they can. Ten years ago I too went to an immigration detention centre and an immigration court in Texas to write a story called “The great expulsion”. All the pathologies of America’s immigration system were on display then. If anything it’s even worse now, as the judge Aryn quoted suggests. He currently has 23,000 immigration cases pending in his court.

While I have you, please do read and share this head-spinning story about bitcoin in Texas. Have a wonderful Labour Day weekend. James will be back next week.

Thanks for reading Checks and Balance. If you have any questions about this newsletter, or future topic ideas, you can send us an email at [email protected].

[NattyBohChamps04]

Oh no! Next thing you know, we'll have "taco trucks on every corner"

And they act like that's a bad thing. I'd love to be able to walk to a delicious taco truck for lunch occasionally. I can only walk to a WaWa and a 7/11.

Come on maaaan, certainly you jest. Who in the world would eat a taco from 7/1 I have had a WaWa pretzel with cheese sauce and they were pretty good. The only good taco is a homemade taco with the corn tortillas cooked in oil on my cast iron skillet. I wouldn't order steak at a restaurant and I would never order a taco at a restaurant. I apologize if I digress. The art of constructing a great taco is serious business in my book.

They were talking about Taco Trucks - food trucks that do authentic street tacos. They are usually pretty delicious. I would like to have a Taco Truck in walking distance. The only food I have in walking distance from my office is a 7/11 (cheap hot dogs) and a WaWa (some decent sandwiches)

[NattyBohChamps04]

Boy, it's gonna be rough. What will we do? Vote Trump, so that he can hire these Venezuelans to work at his properties?

I'm lost. Help us Pete! Keep America white! Oh, and Pete forgot to mention that every one of the Venezuelans are gay. Oh no! Not gay!

R's making a mountain out of a mole hill? Who'd a thunk it...

Denver, Aurora mayors say exaggerated migrant gang coverage is creating 'hysteria'

"The threat from TdA in Denver, it's smaller than many other organized criminal networks that might have been here for decades, the ones you know, like the Bloods or the Crips or others, and so we're monitoring it closely," Johnston said.


It's like watching the social media comments on the Harris interview or the DNC (that then get posted here) - flat out lies about what is actually occurring in front of their eyes.

But of course people won't watch the whole thing, or listen to the whole interview, or read the articles these days. They'd rather get their info as 10 second clips pre-packaged by their commentator or feed of choice. As C&S and others are proud to say they specifically won't read the article or watch the real thing. Learning the truth disrupts the narrative they want to paint or believe.

[LaxFan2311]

Boy, it's gonna be rough. What will we do? Vote Trump, so that he can hire these Venezuelans to work at his properties?

I'm lost. Help us Pete! Keep America white! Oh, and Pete forgot to mention that every one of the Venezuelans are gay. Oh no! Not gay!

R's making a mountain out of a mole hill? Who'd a thunk it...

Denver, Aurora mayors say exaggerated migrant gang coverage is creating 'hysteria'

"The threat from TdA in Denver, it's smaller than many other organized criminal networks that might have been here for decades, the ones you know, like the Bloods or the Crips or others, and so we're monitoring it closely," Johnston said.


It's like watching the social media comments on the Harris interview or the DNC (that then get posted here) - flat out lies about what is actually occurring in front of their eyes.

But of course people won't watch the whole thing, or listen to the whole interview, or read the articles these days. They'd rather get their info as 10 second clips pre-packaged by their commentator or feed of choice. As C&S and others are proud to say they specifically won't read the article or watch the real thing. Learning the truth disrupts the narrative they want to paint or believe.

The mayor of Aurora says Biden/Harris let this happen. Try again. Imagine down playing violent gangs. Proving once again Democrats support criminal illegal aliens over law abiding citizens. Why do you hate Americans so much?
https://x.com/shadowofezra/status/18295 ... 3A8dXXaEwA

[Typical Lax Dad]

Boy, it's gonna be rough. What will we do? Vote Trump, so that he can hire these Venezuelans to work at his properties?

I'm lost. Help us Pete! Keep America white! Oh, and Pete forgot to mention that every one of the Venezuelans are gay. Oh no! Not gay!

R's making a mountain out of a mole hill? Who'd a thunk it...

Denver, Aurora mayors say exaggerated migrant gang coverage is creating 'hysteria'

"The threat from TdA in Denver, it's smaller than many other organized criminal networks that might have been here for decades, the ones you know, like the Bloods or the Crips or others, and so we're monitoring it closely," Johnston said.


It's like watching the social media comments on the Harris interview or the DNC (that then get posted here) - flat out lies about what is actually occurring in front of their eyes.

But of course people won't watch the whole thing, or listen to the whole interview, or read the articles these days. They'd rather get their info as 10 second clips pre-packaged by their commentator or feed of choice. As C&S and others are proud to say they specifically won't read the article or watch the real thing. Learning the truth disrupts the narrative they want to paint or believe.

The mayor of Aurora says Biden/Harris let this happen. Try again. Imagine down playing violent gangs. Proving once again Democrats support criminal illegal aliens over law abiding citizens. Why do you hate Americans so much?
https://x.com/shadowofezra/status/18295 ... 3A8dXXaEwA

It’s Trump and DeSantis’ fault

[Typical Lax Dad]

[Typical Lax Dad]

[Typical Lax Dad]

[a fan]

Boy, it's gonna be rough. What will we do? Vote Trump, so that he can hire these Venezuelans to work at his properties?

I'm lost. Help us Pete! Keep America white! Oh, and Pete forgot to mention that every one of the Venezuelans are gay. Oh no! Not gay!

R's making a mountain out of a mole hill? Who'd a thunk it...

Denver, Aurora mayors say exaggerated migrant gang coverage is creating 'hysteria'

"The threat from TdA in Denver, it's smaller than many other organized criminal networks that might have been here for decades, the ones you know, like the Bloods or the Crips or others, and so we're monitoring it closely," Johnston said.


It's like watching the social media comments on the Harris interview or the DNC (that then get posted here) - flat out lies about what is actually occurring in front of their eyes.

But of course people won't watch the whole thing, or listen to the whole interview, or read the articles these days. They'd rather get their info as 10 second clips pre-packaged by their commentator or feed of choice. As C&S and others are proud to say they specifically won't read the article or watch the real thing. Learning the truth disrupts the narrative they want to paint or believe.

The mayor of Aurora says Biden/Harris let this happen. Try again. Imagine down playing violent gangs. Proving once again Democrats support criminal illegal aliens over law abiding citizens. Why do you hate Americans so much?
https://x.com/shadowofezra/status/18295 ... 3A8dXXaEwA

Pete thinks that we've never had violent immigrant gangs in American history. Not until those mean ol' Dems showed up (checks watch) just three years ago, and ruined everything!

Neat! What else will we learn from Pete? This is quite a UFlorida-led education we're getting. Pete's gonna have to call Rudy Giuliani and tell him that NYC didn't have a Italian mafia in America, for oh, 100+ years.

I also love that Pete didn't actually read the story he cited, but what else is new? He does't care what the story said, he cares what TrumpNation tells him to think. Hasn't formulated an original thought since arriving.

[a fan]

Boy, it's gonna be rough. What will we do? Vote Trump, so that he can hire these Venezuelans to work at his properties?

I'm lost. Help us Pete! Keep America white! Oh, and Pete forgot to mention that every one of the Venezuelans are gay. Oh no! Not gay!

R's making a mountain out of a mole hill? Who'd a thunk it...

Denver, Aurora mayors say exaggerated migrant gang coverage is creating 'hysteria'

"The threat from TdA in Denver, it's smaller than many other organized criminal networks that might have been here for decades, the ones you know, like the Bloods or the Crips or others, and so we're monitoring it closely," Johnston said.


It's like watching the social media comments on the Harris interview or the DNC (that then get posted here) - flat out lies about what is actually occurring in front of their eyes.

But of course people won't watch the whole thing, or listen to the whole interview, or read the articles these days. They'd rather get their info as 10 second clips pre-packaged by their commentator or feed of choice. As C&S and others are proud to say they specifically won't read the article or watch the real thing. Learning the truth disrupts the narrative they want to paint or believe.

Played the same game with Antifa.......Boomers in the middle of American who think they REALLY know what's happening in Portland. And naturally, FoxNation is there to tell them the entire city burned to the ground.

And they fall for it EVERY time. Funny that these same boomers couldn't afford to live in Portland because the demand to live there is so high.

But for them 1+1= no, because squirrels can't dance. This is what happens when you stop spending money on K-12 and higher ed.

When Reagan was CA Governor? Every single California State University and JUCO was free. Free. Yes, Berkley, too.

Remember those days? Where Conservative Americans were leading the charge to educate America so that we wouldn't get beat by the Soviets?

Now that the Soviets are gone, we kept the mililtary, but "forgot" to invest in our own freaking children's education....and adults, too.

So we get millions of Pete's running around, desperate to make sense of their lives via FoxNews. Smart. Real smart. And shocker, FoxNews tells us that the Dems are to blame for why the moon orbits the Earth.

Pete thinks yelling "Dems are bad" will fix things. He and his pals don't want to hear that the way we fixed things for over 100 years before Fox showed up is, "hey, lets get together in Congress and work together to find the middle path to fix things".

Pete doesn't get that he's being played. Trump promised to fix the very immigration system that keeps millions of illegal immigrants from working legally. So he feigns surprise when they break laws to put food on the table. Duh, gee guys, I wonder how come the people here who can't work legally break laws? I just can't figure it out. Thinking is SO hard.

[NattyBohChamps04]

Pete thinks that we've never had violent immigrant gangs in American history. Not until those mean ol' Dems showed up (checks watch) just three years ago, and ruined everything!

[NattyBohChamps04]

Why do you hate Americans so much?

Have you stopped beating your wife?

[LaxFan2311]

Boy, it's gonna be rough. What will we do? Vote Trump, so that he can hire these Venezuelans to work at his properties?

I'm lost. Help us Pete! Keep America white! Oh, and Pete forgot to mention that every one of the Venezuelans are gay. Oh no! Not gay!

R's making a mountain out of a mole hill? Who'd a thunk it...

Denver, Aurora mayors say exaggerated migrant gang coverage is creating 'hysteria'

"The threat from TdA in Denver, it's smaller than many other organized criminal networks that might have been here for decades, the ones you know, like the Bloods or the Crips or others, and so we're monitoring it closely," Johnston said.


It's like watching the social media comments on the Harris interview or the DNC (that then get posted here) - flat out lies about what is actually occurring in front of their eyes.

But of course people won't watch the whole thing, or listen to the whole interview, or read the articles these days. They'd rather get their info as 10 second clips pre-packaged by their commentator or feed of choice. As C&S and others are proud to say they specifically won't read the article or watch the real thing. Learning the truth disrupts the narrative they want to paint or believe.

The mayor of Aurora says Biden/Harris let this happen. Try again. Imagine down playing violent gangs. Proving once again Democrats support criminal illegal aliens over law abiding citizens. Why do you hate Americans so much?
https://x.com/shadowofezra/status/18295 ... 3A8dXXaEwA

It’s Trump and DeSantis’ fault

No it’s not. Democrats are the open borders political party. Your TDS is flaring up again. Better get that checked out.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Boy, it's gonna be rough. What will we do? Vote Trump, so that he can hire these Venezuelans to work at his properties?

I'm lost. Help us Pete! Keep America white! Oh, and Pete forgot to mention that every one of the Venezuelans are gay. Oh no! Not gay!

R's making a mountain out of a mole hill? Who'd a thunk it...

Denver, Aurora mayors say exaggerated migrant gang coverage is creating 'hysteria'

"The threat from TdA in Denver, it's smaller than many other organized criminal networks that might have been here for decades, the ones you know, like the Bloods or the Crips or others, and so we're monitoring it closely," Johnston said.


It's like watching the social media comments on the Harris interview or the DNC (that then get posted here) - flat out lies about what is actually occurring in front of their eyes.

But of course people won't watch the whole thing, or listen to the whole interview, or read the articles these days. They'd rather get their info as 10 second clips pre-packaged by their commentator or feed of choice. As C&S and others are proud to say they specifically won't read the article or watch the real thing. Learning the truth disrupts the narrative they want to paint or believe.

The mayor of Aurora says Biden/Harris let this happen. Try again. Imagine down playing violent gangs. Proving once again Democrats support criminal illegal aliens over law abiding citizens. Why do you hate Americans so much?
https://x.com/shadowofezra/status/18295 ... 3A8dXXaEwA

It’s Trump and DeSantis’ fault

No it’s not. Democrats are the open borders political party. Your TDS is flaring up again. Better get that checked out.

[Typical Lax Dad]

[Typical Lax Dad]

Instead of ID. We should just asked people that look like they are south of the border to lift up their shirts

[youthathletics]

Moving conversation to thread where it is more appropriate:

viewtopic.php?p=579129#p579129

It could have been done in a line item or two, not yet another omnibus package. You know…fiscal discipline.

Not remotely.
Our system is vastly underfunded and Mexico ain't riding to the rescue per Trump's promises.

If you cared even a tiny bit, you're read the bill and you'd agree with Lankford.

I read it line by line when it came out. I still stand by belief, that had they simply kept what was set in motion through 2019, not cancel every EA by Trump they would have had far less to focus on...instead the proverbial damn was being built, it was beginning to do its intended job, and the chose to scuttle the entire operation flooding the system, creating more optical problems.

I get it, sometimes you do need to blow things up and 'start over' when it is not working, our border is NOT one of them, why they chose to blow everything up simply proves to me that they wanted to mark their territory like a dog on a mailbox, tell the world we know better, eff the last guy.....that is just ignorance, wasteful, lacking operational wisdom.

Totally unfair take on the border deal. For better than a year, GOP House members clamored for border legislation, making it a bloviating priority for their Congressional majority. A bipartisan deal was hammered out, and included $20 billion for improvements to border security, significant changes to the asylum system, an increase in the number of detention beds available, established a trigger number for shutting down the border, green cards to Afghans admitted or paroled to the US after the pull-out, and substantial new funding for the Border Services. Like almost any legislation, it was imperfect -- under our Constitution and in our two party system, almost all legislation of this sort is effectively a settlement agreement, in which each side concedes in the name of consensus. Trump directed his tiny puppet, Mike Johnson, to countermand all of the GOP House's howling statements for more money, etc., because he needed to campaign on it and didn't want Biden to have anything resembling a success.

This is the whole story. No one was telling "the world we know better;" it was getting something done in a polarized environment of Congress, with the assistance and support of Republicans and Democrats. This is the very sort of thing we should encourage and applaud, even if imperfect, in a Congress wracked with gridlock and faced with important matters to legislate upon. The border deal showed that Congress can work, and that the system can work. "Lacking operational wisdom"? Laughable. I mean, literally ludicrous. Look harder at what you are saying. This bill was exactly what Congress is supposed to do. The needs of the GOP nominee for the presidency negated all of these efforts.

You are (intentionally?) missing the premise of my argument, by accepting low standards of work. My entire argument, which is longstanding, is that the way in which we do business in NOT conducive to addressing line item issues. While yes, the bill settled on bi-partisan agreement, at the expense of spending far more than needed, it still wreaks of dysfunction.

A. which parts of the bill did you not like?

B. how in heaven's name did you come up with the idea that we're "spending too much" on our immigration, visa, and border protection system?

You're tipping your hand. We have 11 million people here illegally. And yet you're claiming we're (this is really something) "too much" on our immigration and border and visa systems?

Seriously? How about this: how much "should" we be spending, and where on Earth did you come up with this figure?

This tells me two things....1. as I keep saying, you and "the border is open" crew don't REALLY care about this stuff. 2. Nothing that we try and do will make you happy.

No pity nope. As is normal, your binary two options most always miss the nuanced options, which is the area I am working in. Would be far easier to chat about it over a conversation in person, because you tend to assume intent at the extremes…not a fault, just your love language.

What are you talking about?

I asked you a SPECIFIC question: tell us what you didn't like. You claimed you read every line. Clearly SOMETHING jumped out at you.

What was it? This is like that BBC call in show, where a caller claims Brexit worked out fine....and the host asks "a fine opinion. Give us three thing it did".

And as you know....the callers hang up. Every time. Don't be that caller, YA. Answer a SIMPLE question.

Wife is good to go, thanks for the kind words.

For starters...

~ The amount of Field Border Agents/Officers has doubled in ~20 years and not much has changed along the border...so What the heck are we doing other than throwing cash; we are not FIXING the problem, merely treating the condition and barely that. Mandating their staffing to 22k by 2025, seems like a place to just say we created 'x' new jobs. When a completed wall, high tech investments, etc. could knock that number in half when its more efficient.

~ It still separates Child from Parent if parent has outstanding criminal issue other than illegal border crossing.

We could have simply kept Trumps wall moving along...and by now, it would have been damned near done. Could have reduced border agents and not burdened them so much that they now have to provide significant retention incentive just to stay working.

Used this opportunity to evaluate the ~6 years of wall construction, & worked on a single line item Bill that was E-Verify, which was title VIII on current bill.

[youthathletics]

Wait, DoS says do not go there: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel ... isory.html

Kamala says hold my beer: https://x.com/Surabees/status/1833147988765478944

Okay.....we'll bring the crime here instead.

[Typical Lax Dad]

[Typical Lax Dad]

We are ruining this country with these people.