Border Patrol chief: Our national security is at risk

If there was ever a moment for a sense of urgency from Washington about America’s border crisis, that time is now.

“As of Sunday, only seven months into the year, we have now surpassed the total southwest border apprehensions of every fiscal year since 2009,” U.S. Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost told members of a U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee yesterday.

Watch: Border Patrol chief explains our immigration crisis in 6 minutes

Because of dangerous loopholes in American immigration laws, today “family units” and unaccompanied children account for 64 percent of all apprehensions at the southern border. Illegal immigrants and human smugglers “have received the message loud and clear,” Provost says.

“Bring a child—you will be released.”

That policy creates an unmitigated humanitarian and security disaster. One problem is that illegal immigration is dangerous and often relies on criminal smugglers to breach the border. Bringing young children along in that journey puts them at grave risk.

An even more pressing danger comes from “fake families”—a growing phenomenon where children are unwillingly paired with nonparent adults to game U.S. asylum laws. Once entry is granted, those children become expendable, sometimes being appallingly “recycled” back across the border for use by another asylum-seeker.

Congress needs to take action—and that doesn’t simply mean building more temporary facilities, Provost said. “It’s like holding a bucket under a faucet. It doesn't matter how many buckets you give me if we can't turn off the flow.”

President Trump is calling on Congress to respond to this humanitarian crisis.

More: Feds released 168,000 illegal immigrant family members into communities

President Trump hosts the 2018 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox

A time-honored tradition took place at the White House today as President Trump welcomed last year’s World Series baseball champions, the Boston Red Sox.

The Red Sox have been one of America’s most storied franchises. In 2004, they captivated the Nation by rallying for the biggest playoff comeback in baseball history, defeating the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series. A near-century long championship drought ended as they went on to win the title that year.

And in 2013, the Red Sox brought unity and joy to a Boston community still healing after the tragic events of the Boston Marathon bombing that April, winning the organization’s eighth championship that fall.

Watch President Trump welcome the 2018 champion Boston Red Sox.