Sep 9, 2019 - Politics & Policy

Acting CBP head touts falling border numbers at rare press briefing

Mark Morgan. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

The number of border crossings last month fell again to 64,006 from a decade high of 144,266 in May, acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan announced from the White House on Monday.

Why it matters: Morgan, who got the job largely thanks to his defense of Trump's policies on Fox News, used the rare press briefing to defend Trump's border wall and praise the administration's restrictions on asylum-seekers. He also praised the Mexican government's cracking down on migrants traveling through the country toward the U.S., but added that it needed to do more.

Between the lines: While Mexico's efforts and the Migrant Protection Protocols — the policy that forces asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico during their immigration proceedings — have likely had an impact on the flow of migrants into the U.S., border crossings tend to begin falling around this time of year. The number of migrants arrested or turned away from the border was still higher last month than any other August since at least FY 2013, according to CBP data.

Go deeper: Trump administration can't say when first section of new wall will be built

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Louisville officer: "Breonna Taylor would be alive" if we had served no-knock warrant

Breonna Taylor memorial in Louisville. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, the Louisville officer who led the botched police raid that caused the death of Breonna Taylor, said the No. 1 thing he wishes he had done differently is either served a "no-knock" warrant or given five to 10 seconds before entering the apartment: "Breonna Taylor would be alive, 100 percent."

Driving the news: Mattingly, who spoke to ABC News and Louisville's Courier Journal for his public interview, was shot in the leg in the initial moments of the March 13 raid. Mattingly did not face any charges after Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said he and another officer were "justified" in returning fire to protect themselves against Taylor's boyfriend.

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U.S. vs. Google — the siege begins

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The Justice Department fired the starter pistol on what's likely to be a years-long legal siege of Big Tech by the U.S. government when it filed a major antitrust suit Tuesday against Google.

The big picture: Once a generation, it seems, federal regulators decide to take on a dominant tech company. Two decades ago, Microsoft was the target; two decades before that, IBM.

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2 hours ago - Economy & Business

Why the stimulus delay isn't a crisis (yet)

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

If the impasse between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House on a new stimulus deal is supposed to be a crisis, you wouldn't know it from the stock market, where prices continue to rise.

  • That's been in no small part because U.S. economic data has held up remarkably well in recent months thanks to the $2 trillion CARES Act and Americans' unusual ability to save during the crisis.
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