As things keep escalating at the border everyday, there is more news about the people who are seeking asylum in the U.S. The president’s order to send troops down to the southern border was supposed to end December 15, however the reality is different. According to Fox News, on Tuesday the Defense Secretary, James Mattis, extended this order into early 2019. This means that the 5,600 troops stationed in California, Arizona and Texas will stay there longer than expected.

Two weeks ago there was a lot of controversy surrounding DHS (Department of Homeland Security), specifically the border patrol agents, for throwing tear gas at immigrants attempting to cross the border illegally. Women and children were caught in the crossfire. The issue began when the immigrants started throwing rocks at the agents while attempting to cross. According to CNN, some agents were hit with rocks but were not harmed because they were wearing protective gear. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said CBP, “effectively managed an extremely dangerous situation involving over 1,000 individuals who sought to enter the US unlawfully in large groups.” This issue has died down since it was discovered that this was not the first time Border Patrol agents have used tear gas. This method has been used dozens of times during the Obama administration.

The president has also threatened to end birthright citizenship in October with an executive order. Last week a pregnant 19 year-old woman who was part of the infamous caravan, Maryury Elizabeth Serrano-Hernandez, arrived in San Diego from Honduras, determined to have her baby in America. Along with her husband and son, they crossed the border illegally and were detained. After they were put into holding cells she started having pains, so the border patrol agents rushed her to the hospital. She gave birth to her son shortly after in a U.S. hospital, saying “ With the faith in God, I always said my son will be born there (in America).” According to Fox News, Border Patrol told them that the family was “placed into immigration proceedings and released on their own recognizance on December 2.”

Recently, there have been a number of other immigrants trying to achieve stories like this one, leading to an increase in people who have been apprehended attempting to cross the border illegally (compared to October’s statistics). According to USA Today , 25,172 families were apprehended in November, compared to the 23,115 families that were caught in October; an 8 percent increase. According to CNN, a majority of the families that were apprehended while crossing were caught in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, an area that has had the highest apprehension rates for years.

There has also been an increase in children crossing alone. This comes after President Trump has made it clear he seeks to change the system of catching people and letting them go, waiting for their trial. As of right now, there is still no solution in place for these problems and the two parties are still at odds over how to handle this situation, the increase of illegal immigrants, and the border wall.

The actions that are put in place are not permanent solutions and there are many problems which still need to be fixed. Until the left and the right parties come together, we will always have these problems that keep getting bigger and bigger until they topple into a mess that can’t be cleaned up.