From Reuters -- reminder this is only Day 85 of the new administration
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-mothers-insight-idUSKBN17F23M
In December, 16,000 parents and children were apprehended; in March, a month in which immigration typically increases because of temperate weather, the number was just over 1,100…
Trump has spoken about the need to crack down broadly on all illegal immigrants. But, internally, according to the DHS officials familiar with the department’s strategy, his administration has focused on one immigrant group more than others: women with children, the fastest growing demographic of illegal immigrants. This planning has not been previously reported.
In the months since Trump’s inauguration, DHS has rolled out a range of policies aimed at discouraging women from attempting to cross the border, including tougher initial hurdles for asylum claims and the threat of prosecuting parents [as human traffickers] if they hire smugglers to get their families across the border…
For months, Central Americans had heard about Trump’s get-tough policies. And public service announcements on radio and television presented bleak pictures of what awaited those who traveled north. Some of the ads were funded by the United States, others by United Nations agencies and regional governments.
The PR idea seems clear. To publicize far and wide the possibility of that mothers would be separated from their children upon apprehension and detention. This campaign alone has come close to stopping this subgroup of illegal border crossers cold.