Border battlefront

Failed attempts to deal with migration across the southern border of the US have led to a partisan conflict between draconian and humanitarian solutions, and endless misery for immigrants and refugees

A US border patrol agent speaks with Central American migrants at the US-Mexico border fence at El Paso Picture: Getty
Volunteers walk through a remote desert area to leave water bottles for migrants as they cross the US-Mexico border, in Jacumba Hot Springs, California

For decades, successive administrations have tried – and failed – to deal with the flow of migrants over the southern border of the United States. At its 2001 peak, 1.6 million migrants who illegally entered the US were apprehended by border enforcement agents. Long before president Donald Trump arrived in the ...