Election Day is Tuesday, and health insurance for those with pre-existing conditions is a major issue. Then, the number of troops sent to the U.S.-Mexico border has now reached World War I levels, and what to make of it (09:45). And finally, contributor Yvette Benavides was at a bus station in San Antonio, where dozens of asylum-seekers from Central America were sent (15:45).
Election Day is Tuesday and polling tells us that health care is an issue that many voters care about, especially when it comes to protection for pre-existing conditions.
The issue has become so dominant in the minds of voters that President Donald Trump tweeted about it on Oct. 18 stating, “All Republicans support people with pre-existing conditions and if they don’t they will after I speak to them. I am in total support.”
But do the words match the action?
Sophie Novack, of the Texas Observer, joins us to discuss the issue.
Active Troops on The Border
Operation Faithful Patriot is the name of the Department of Defense mission that is sending 7,000 active-duty military members to the U.S.-Mexico border. This is the largest deployment to the southern border since before World War I. President Trump says the number could reach 15,000.
Melissa del Bosque, with the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute, is the author of the book "Bloodlines."
Commentary: Asylum seekers
Last weekend, U.S. immigration detention centers and Border Patrol holding facilities released an unusually high number of Central American asylum-seekers. Many were dropped off at bus stations in South Texas, where they were met by local faith-based non-profits put to the test to provide assistance. Yvette Benavides is a professor of creative writing at Our Lady of the Lake University.
David Martin Davies can be reached at dmdavies@tpr.org or on Twitter @DavidMartinDavi
