No, the U.S. Is Not "Full," But We Do Have Someone Pretending He Was Elected President Who's Full Of Crap

People who want to take on Trump-- now this is crowded

On Friday Señor Trumpanzee was down near San Diego on the U.S.-Mexico border, carrying on that "our country is full" and that illegal border crossings must stop. "There is indeed an emergency on our southern border. It’s a colossal surge, and it’s overwhelming our immigration system. We can’t take you anymore. Our country is full." As usual, he's full of shit. Ever wonder which countries really are crowded? Leaving out counties that are really city-states, like Monaco (43,830/square mile), Singapore (20,192), Hong Kong (16,444) and Gibraltar (11,808), some of the most crowded countries these 20

Bangladesh- 2,896
Palestine- 1,764
Taiwan- 1,655
South Korea- 1,261
Netherlands- 1,083
Israel- 961
India- 943
Haiti- 938
Belgium- 919
Philippines- 767
Vietnam- 671
U.K.- 660
Germany- 593
Italy- 518
Switzerland- 495
China- 376
Denmark- 332
Thailand- 324
Poland- 316
Indonesia- 313

Those are all crowded places or, not necessarily "full," but very crowded. But you've got to go way down the list of countries to find the U.S., right in the middle of the least densely populated. There are 85 people per square mile in the U.S. Some countries that are even less densely populated include:

Brazil- 65
Sweden- 54
New Zealand- 41
Argentina- 36
Saudi Arabia- 31
Russia- 21
Canada- 8.8
Australia- 8.8
Iceland- 8
Mongolia- 4.4

Maybe Trump thought the U.S. was "full" because he spends a lot of time in DC and in New Jersey. DC, like most cities, is very densely populated-- 11,011 people per square mile. New Jersey is up there too-- 1,218. New York state is pretty full too-- 420-- and Florida is 378. So the U.S. has some crowded places, generally states with a metropolis or two. But Alaska is empty-- 1 person per square mile. These are a dozen other states that Trump could pay some immigrants to go to and make everyone happy:

Wyoming- 6
Montana- 7
North Dakota- 10
South Dakota- 11
New Mexico- 17
Idaho- 20
Nebraska- 24
Nevada- 26
Kansas- 36
Utah- 36
Oregon- 39
Maine- 43

Some of those states advertise for immigrants, usually quietly so as not to arouse the Know Nothings and other Trumpets bigots.

On Friday, the Associated Press, reported that "House Democrats filed a lawsuit preventing Trump from spending more money than Congress has approved to erect barriers along the southwestern border. Congress approved just under $1.4 billion for work on border barricades. Trump has asserted he can use his powers as chief executive to transfer an additional $6.7 billion to wall construction." That probably upset Trump; maybe he was so upset that he couldn't get any of his facts straight.

...Trump, as he so often does, mixed fact with fiction when warning of the threat at the border. When complaining about the Flores legal settlement that governs treatment of migrant children and families, he blamed “Judge Flores, whoever you may be.” But Flores was an unaccompanied 15-year-old girl from El Salvador.

He also downplayed the claims of people seeking asylum at the border, declaring without evidence that many are gang members while comparing some of their efforts to find safety in the U.S. to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

“It’s a scam, it’s a hoax,” Trump said. “I know about hoaxes. I just went through a hoax.”

As the president showed off the renovated section of the barrier to reporters, a balloon depicting Trump as a baby floated further down the border. And as Trump landed in California, the state’s governor ripped the president’s push for Congress to pass legislation that would tighten asylum rules to make it harder for people to qualify.

“Since our founding, this country has been a place of refuge-- a safe haven for people fleeing tyranny, oppression and violence. His words show a total disregard of the Constitution, our justice system, and what it means to be an American,” said Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Trump has been increasingly exasperated at his inability to halt the swelling number of migrants entering the U.S., including thousands who have been released after arriving because border officials have no space for them. Arrests along the southern border have skyrocketed in recent months, and border agents were on track to make 100,000 arrests or denials of entry in March, a 12-year high. More than half of those are families with children, who require extra care.

The southern border is nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) long and already has about 650 miles (1,050 kilometers) of different types of barriers, including short vehicle barricades and tall steel fences that go up to 30 feet (9 meters) high. Most of the fencing was built during George W. Bush’s administration, and there have been updates and maintenance throughout other administrations.

Trump has yet to complete any new mileage of fencing or other barriers anywhere on the border, though he declared Friday that at least 400 miles (650 kilometers) of the border barrier would be erected over the next two years. His administration so far has only replaced existing fencing. Construction for that small chunk of fencing cost about $18 million, began in February 2018 and was completed in October. Plans to replace that fence date back to 2009, during President Barack Obama’s tenure.

Administration officials had been studying ways to minimize the economic impact of a potential border closure in case Trump went through with his threat, including keeping trucking lanes open or closing only certain ports.

But even absent that extraordinary step, delays at border stations have been mounting after some 2,000 border officers were reassigned from checking vehicles to deal with migrant crowds.

After the border visit, Trump was slated to travel to Los Angeles, where he was set to hold a pair of fundraisers in the deeply liberal city. He was then poised to travel to Las Vegas for another re-election fundraiser and an address to the Republican Jewish Coalition, which is backed by GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson.