We can’t believe it either. While the New York Times editorial board does not agree with Donald Trump that the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border is the same one the president sees, the left-leaning newspaper nonetheless recognizes there is a problem and is calling on Congress to fund the border.
“President Trump is right: There is a crisis at the southern border. Just not the one he rants about,” the NYT’s editorial board said forthright on Sunday. The Times contends, there’s “no invasion of murderers, drug cartels or terrorists,” but still says, however reluctantly:
But as record numbers of Central American families flee violence and poverty in their homelands, they are overwhelming United States border systems, fueling a humanitarian crisis of overcrowding, disease and chaos. The Border Patrol is now averaging 1,200 daily arrests, with many migrants arriving exhausted and sick. Last week, a teenage boy from Guatemala died in government custody, the third death of a minor since December. As resources are strained and the system buckles, the misery grows.
The Times concedes that the “misery” has grown so much that Congress must act and “soon.”
Why isn’t anything happening? “Political gamesmanship once again threatens to hold up desperately needed resources,” insists the editorial board.
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However you dice it, it’s a pretty big about face for the New York Times when they decide to agree with Trump on the need for funding a border wall.
https://twitter.com/ScottLawlor12/status/1122865617940381697
The newspaper even concedes that the administration is making a reasonable request on wanting $4.5 billion for emergency funding to address the crisis caused by “alarming numbers” of migrants showing up at our southern border, including children:
In a letter to lawmakers, the acting director of the White House’s budget office, Russell Vought, sought to convey the scope of the challenge. “In February, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered more than 76,000 illegal border crossers and inadmissible aliens, and in March that number exceeded 100,000 — the highest monthly level in more than a decade,” Mr. Vought wrote. He described what he said were “alarming numbers” of women and children jammed into Border Patrol stations never intended as long-term shelters.
Will Congress give Trump the money? Time will tell. But an institution as liberal as the New York Times coming around to the president’s position is notable, to say the least.