President Donald Trump announced late last week he had reached a border immigration agreement with Mexico and his threat of imposing tariffs on that country would be suspended. Almost immediately, the left-leaning media outlets went on the attack.

The 24/7 slash-and-burn tactics — from cable news networks as well as headlines from the print media — attempted to paint President Trump as a bully, a liar, and a fool. The New York Times front page header stated, "Conditions in Pact to Avert Tariffs Were Set Months Ago," while The Washington Post chipped in with the headline "Deal Just a Temper Tantrum." Always such animosity, always such hate.

An almost exact, echoing chorus was sung by all the Democratic presidential wannabes as they made the rounds in Iowa. The candidates, even the moderates, have gone so far to the left that a completely open-border policy is becoming Democrat mainstream.

No matter what this president accomplishes, it’s always met with enthusiastic cynicism.

In times of great triumphs, a president must get the accolades — just as, in times of great hardship, the president must accept the blame. That’s the price anyone pays for residency in the Oval Office. Often, positive administration accomplishments are under-reported, spun, or ignored. Under this president, we are at historic lows in unemployment with more Americans working than ever recorded in our history. President Trump engineered a historic tax cut, the economy is booming, and he was front and center with bombing ISIS back into the stone age. These are successes that half of the country wants to ignore.

Keep in mind: I am not always lockstep with Trump’s vernacular, technique and or his foreign policy tactics. However, in this case, his plan to pressure the Mexican government made perfect sense. To artificially incentivize an obligated Mexico into fulfilling immigration promises previously made is a brilliant negotiating tactic.

It may be true the deal was discussed back in December, but it wasn't being enforced, and even if Trump never intended to implement tariffs, the Mexican officials believed he might. That was enough to move the needle and get them to act. Using our financial might to our advantage simply makes sense. Mexico is now doing more to stop illegal immigration than any single member of Congress. Even if, down the road, Mexico reneges on the deal and pulls back the 6,000-plus military personal designated to curb the northward flow of illegals, a global spotlight has been aimed on their failure to exercise immigration security within their own country. Trump simply pushed a whole bunch of poker chips into the center of the table and Mexico folded.

The southern border has turned into an exercise in chaos. U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed that May apprehensions topped 144,000. That means, to date, there have been 676,315 apprehensions in 2019 — a doubling over this time last year. Agents have increased their estimate of illegals eventually being stopped at the border this calendar year to over the one million mark. These are the ones that are caught! How many make it through unseen?

These numbers are unsustainable — even for the greatest nation on Earth. Over one million illegal entries in a year means on average nearly 3,000 immigrants try to cross the border each day, and many of them are exploiting existing asylum and refugee laws. Immigrant asylum seekers are supposed to settle in the first safe country they enter and not go window shopping for the best place to land. Mexico has been ignoring or even assisting the illegal migration north from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. These three countries make up the Northern Triangle of Central America. It's economically detrimental for Mexico to help or house these migrants, so they assist in ferrying them towards America.

Once an immigrant reaches the United States and asks for asylum, protocol is radically altered. The backlog in U.S. immigration courts reached an all-time high in March 2018 with more than 690,000 open deportation cases. On average, these cases had been pending for 718 days and remained unresolved. Immigrants are given promises to appear and most, up to 90 percent, just disappear into the fabric of America.

Trump’s latest deal with Mexico is a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. We’re still hemorrhaging illegals at our southern border at record-breaking levels. At least this president used outside-the-box creativity in attempting to solve a problem that Washington lawmakers would like to ignore.

Lee Elci is the morning host for 94.9 News Now radio, a station that provides "Stimulating Talk" with a conservative bent.