Two years ago, when President Trump entered the White House with a pledge to close the door on illegal immigration, all that changed. The nearly 20,000 agents of the Border Patrol became the leading edge of one of the most aggressive immigration crackdowns ever imposed in the United States.

No longer were they a quasi-military organization tasked primarily with intercepting drug runners and chasing smugglers. Their new focus was to block and detain hundreds of thousands of migrant families fleeing violence and extreme poverty -- herding people into tents and cages, seizing children and sending their parents to jail, trying to spot those too sick to survive in the densely packed processing facilities along the border.

Ten migrants have died since September in the custody of the Border Patrol and its parent agency, Customs and Border Protection.

In recent months, the extreme overcrowding on the border has begun to ease, with migrants turned away and made to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims are processed. Last week, the Supreme Court allowed the administration to close the door further, at least for now, by requiring migrants from countries outside Mexico to show they have already been denied refuge in another country before applying for asylum.

The Border Patrol, whose agents have gone from having one of the most obscure jobs in law enforcement to one of the most hated, is suffering a crisis in both mission and morale. Earlier this year, the disclosure of a private Facebook group where agents posted sexist and callous references to migrants and the politicians who support them reinforced the perception that agents often view the vulnerable people in their care with frustration and contempt.

Interviews with 25 current and former agents in Texas, California and Arizona -- some conducted on the condition of anonymity so the agents could speak more candidly -- paint a portrait of an agency in a political and operational quagmire. Overwhelmed through the spring and early summer by desperate migrants, many agents have grown defensive, insular and bitter.

The president of the agents' union said he had received death threats. An agent in South Texas said some colleagues he knew were looking for other federal law enforcement jobs. One agent in El Paso told a retired agent he was so disgusted by scandals in which the Border Patrol has been accused of neglecting or mistreating migrants that he wanted the motto emblazoned on its green-and-white vehicles -- "Honor First" -- scratched off.

"To have gone from where people didn't know much about us to where people actively hate us, it's difficult," said Chris Harris, who was an agent for 21 years and a Border Patrol union official until he retired in June 2018. "There's no doubt morale has been poor in the past, and it's abysmal now. I know a lot of guys just want to leave."

At two of the world's biggest coal mines, the finances got so bad that their owner couldn't even get toilet paper on credit.

Warehouse technician Melissa Worden divvied up what remained of the last case, giving four rolls to each mine and two to the mine supply facility where she worked.

Days later, things got worse.

Mine owner Blackjewel LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 1. Worden at first figured the accounts would get settled quickly and vendors of everything from copy paper to parts for house-sized dump trucks would soon be back to doing normal business with the mines.

"The consensus was: In 30 days, we'll look back on this, and we made it through, and we'll be up and running, and it's a fresh start," she said.

What happened instead has shaken the top coal-producing region in the United States like a charge of mining explosive. Blackjewel furloughed most of its Wyoming employees and shut down Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines, the first idled by hardship since coal mining in the Powder River Basin exploded in the 1970s.

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The turmoil comes as U.S. coal production is down over 30% since peaking in 2008. Utilities are retiring aging coal-fired power plants and switching to solar, wind and cheaper and cleaner-burning natural gas to generate electricity despite President Donald Trump's efforts to prop up the coal industry.

A decade ago, about half of U.S. electricity came from coal-fired power. Now it's below 30%, a shift that heavy equipment operator Rory Wallet saw as utilities became less willing to lock in multiyear contracts for Belle Ayr mine's coal.

"The market's changed," Wallet said. "The bankruptcies all tie into that."

Boston's roster construction in 2019 paid little attention to that basic principle. Three contracts in particular -- David Price, Chris Sale and Nathan Eovaldi -- are untradeable, and all were negotiated by Dombrowski. No opposing executive would consummate any deal with those three players involved unless there was a significant asset attached. Price, Sale and Eovaldi are on the Red Sox books for $73.6 million in each of the next three seasons.

That lack of flexibility comes prior to what could be an offseason of considerable transition. The next hire for Dombrowski's old position faces serious questions that will shape the Red Sox roster for years to come. Resolving the immediate futures of Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Rick Porcello and Brock Holt is bound to cause some headaches.

Boston has what feels like unlimited financial resources, but spending through the final threshold of the competitive balance tax every season isn't the answer. The Red Sox can pay the fines to Major League Baseball, but losing draft position is something the organization can't afford. Boston's farm system is improving but remains ranked in the bottom third among 30 franchises.

What must make this particularly vexing for Henry is how perfectly his Liverpool machine is humming along at the moment. In June, their roster management culminated in a sixth UEFA Champions League title, the world's premier competition in club soccer. Liverpool's players on average are younger, cheaper and were more prudently acquired than the current Red Sox group by light years.

Trent Alexander-Arnold is the lone product of the club's academy system who is a regular contributor, a brilliant 20-year-old fullback who is now an England national team regular. The other 10 starters against Tottenham in the final were acquired at an average age of 24 years old -- each of them still had considerable room to grow and improve. The three players Liverpool brought off the bench included two purchased as teenagers and a third, James Milner, who was a 29-year-old free transfer from Manchester City.

Liverpool's two most expensive players, defender Virgil van Dijk and goalkeeper Alisson Becker, were acquired to address specific areas of need. The Reds spent a combined $175 million to shore up their leaky back line, adding the final missing pieces to a club that was ready to contend for titles. The Red Sox signing J.D. Martinez the year after finishing last in the American League in home runs is an appropriate comparison.

The difference here is how the available funds were generated. The Red Sox took another significant chunk out of their CBT allotment -- Martinez's salary last season counted for about 9% of the $237 million available, which Boston plowed through to win a championship. Liverpool reinvested the $130 million they took in by selling disgruntled midfielder Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona.

The Reds had purchased Coutinho from Inter Milan for just $10.5 million as a 20-year-old and cashed in for two reasons -- his value had reached its maximum, and more help was needed elsewhere on the roster.