Border Apprehensions Jump 84 Percent, 606,000 Expected This Year “January saw a surprising surge of 22,000 more apprehensions of illegal immigrants at southwest border crossings over January 2018, prompting a key predictor to suggest that border officers will make over 600,000 apprehensions this year,” Paul Bedard reports for the Washington Examiner. “The year-over-year increase was 84 percent, from 25,975 in January 2018 to 47,893 last January, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.” Princeton Policy Advisors’ Steven Kopits believes the surge suggests that more illegal immigrants could be heading to the border than expected. “Buckle your seat belts: 2019 could be a wild ride at the southwest border,” he says. Click here to read more.

“The number of people who applied for jobless benefits in mid-February fell sharply and returned near post-recession lows, suggesting the U.S. labor market is still going strong and keeping the economy on firm footing,” Jeffry Bartash writes in MarketWatch. The big picture: “The U.S. is still adding new jobs at a rapid clip to keep the unemployment rate near the lowest level in decades.”

“President Trump tweeted Wednesday that a new section of the border wall just erected in New Mexico, and he was telling the truth,” Eddie Scarry reports in the Washington Examiner. U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that the wall referenced was a “project announced in April 2018 to build 20 miles of new steel wall that replaced small fencing that prevents vehicle crossing. The new barriers are from 18 to 30 feet high, depending on the terrain.”

“After two years of the Trump presidency, America’s economic engine has been reignited. Since President Trump took office nearly five million jobs have been created, including more than 450,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector,” Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) writes in The Detroit News. “In just a couple years, the economy has made significant strides. However, the rush by some leaders on the left to abandon free enterprise principles and embrace the tenets of socialism threatens this very progress.”