The Asylum Surge Is Finally Starting to Ease Up

Border apprehensions are finally down a bit:

The big argument, apparently, is over what caused this decline. Was it stepped-up Mexican enforcement? Or is it just the usual summer drop?

Probably both. Plus a third thing that no one is talking about: what goes up must come down. This asylum boom has been bigger than ones in the past, but they never last forever and this one was never going to last forever either.

If Donald Trump hadn’t mismanaged both the border and our Central American affairs in general, this might never have happened. Or maybe it had nothing to with Trump. There’s no way to know for sure. But Guatemala has been a cesspool of crime and street gangs for many years, and only under Trump did that turn into a huge migrant surge. Maybe Obama’s mushy, soft-hearted plan to help Guatemala become a better place to live had something to it after all.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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