Forget the awful conditions at border migrant camps – Trump only has eyes for 2020

Normally, when the United Nations or Pope Francis speak, whichever government they are aiming their remarks at will at least acknowledge them, or certainly act like they are paying attention.

On Monday, the pontiff said that “nobody is exempt” from helping migrants, obliquely admonishing Washington and Rome for their callous disregard for the “weakest and most vulnerable”. The UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, went even further – saying the act of keeping children in overcrowded camps left her “deeply shocked”.

Perhaps Donald Trump is just used to it. From would-be travel bans to his treatment and demonising of immigrants, the UN and Pope Francis have lectured the US president multiple times.

While the images of dead fathers and children crossing the US southern border and packed, dirty facilities wrench the heart of all those who have one, the situation is not new. 

Overcrowding has been an issue for months. In fact, with border crossing arrests falling 31 per cent between May and June and the number of migrants being held by US border patrol down 40 per cent since late May according to the preliminary data from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), it is less of a problem now.

That does not excuse the treatment of those at the border, with a DHS report obtained by NBC News last week showing that a border station in El Paso, Texas, had four showers for 756 immigrants and cells were at more than five times their official capacity. It is a journalist’s job to hold those in power to account, but all Mr Trump sees is political gain.

On Sunday, the president tweeted that The New York Times and others were spreading “phoney” accounts of conditions at the border and accused Democrats of being the ones to hold up immigration reform.

With the 2020 presidential election finally coming into view, Trump knows how to appeal to his base. Appear hard on immigration and crime and blame “weak” Democrats for all problems. Can blaming Democrats and claiming the issue is exaggerated work? It seemingly will for Trump who is not adverse to sending mixed messages.

Mr Trump says he has been falsely accused of “manufacturing” the crisis at the border – but that twists the truth. Nobody has denied there is a problem but critics put Mr Trump at its heart. Pointing out that illegal immigration at the border has been falling and does not account for all the migrants heading to the US is done by Democrats to reframe the debate. It is Trump’s crackdown on entry to the US and the now-defunct policy of separating children from parents that has helped exacerbate the fleeing of refugees and migrants looking to flee violence and poverty in Central America.

The Democrats are also playing political football, with a number of 2020 candidates visiting facilities and blaming the president.

As the two sides hit out at each other – or even their own sides – bipartisan efforts such as the passing of a $4.6bn (£3.7bn) aid bill for the border get lost in the noise. 

It is that type of action, however much House Democrats resent how few changes they could make to the bill, that matters.

But it is Trump’s bluster that will be heard loudest. It matters little to him what the Democrats, the UN or Pope Francis say. 

As long as Trump has someone to blame and he knows he will gain capital with his supporters, speed is not of the essence. The crisis will be dealt with as Trump will want to claim victory – but expect to see more pictures of dirty immigration centres for the foreseeable future.