Story Highlights
Unaccompanied children come from up to 11 different countries
New response plan includes $250 million for Central American governments
Up to 80,000 children without parents will cross the border this year, US estimates
VP Joe Biden holds meeting in Guatemala with regional leaders
cnn
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The Obama administration has unveiled a plan to spend millions of dollars to stem the tide of undocumented children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, and announced Friday a coordinated, government-wide response to the situation.
The plan includes nearly $100 million in aid to the Central American governments of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to help reintegrate illegal immigrants the United States will return and to help keep them in their home countries, according to a House statement. White. .
The administration also announced that it will set aside $161.5 million this year for Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) programs because the programs “are critical to enabling Central American countries to respond to the most pressing security and governance challenges in the region.” the region”.
“Our assistance will help curb migration flows as well as address the root cause of migration,” the statement said.
The Obama administration has accused unions in Latin America of carrying out a deliberate misinformation campaign that has caused people in poor countries in Central America and Mexico to risk their lives to head to the United States, where they hope to stay.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the administration is addressing the issue in several ways.
“We are going to open some additional detention centers that can accommodate adults who show up at the border with their children. And we're going to deploy some additional resources to resolve their immigration cases more quickly, so that they don't stay in that detention center for too long and, hopefully, they're quickly returned to their home country,” Earnest said.
Earnest said the administration is also working with Central American countries to address the problem at its root.
“Part of that is an information campaign and countering this intentional misinformation campaign that criminal syndicates are spreading. But also working through a number of USAID programs and the host governments, or the governments of these countries, to try to meet some of the citizen security needs that are so acute in these countries right now.
Biden meets with Central American leaders
Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Guatemala on Friday to talk with Central American leaders as part of the White House strategy. A large number of the recent increase in undocumented children, 29%, are from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, according to the government.
Biden's objective in the meeting with leaders from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico was to emphasize that “children and adults who arrive with their children (to the US) are not eligible to benefit from the approval of the immigration reform or Deferred Action.” for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).”
Most children crossing the border would not qualify for “amnesty” under the federal DACA program that defers the deportation of children previously brought to the United States by their parents or guardians illegally.
Biden spoke with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández during his flight to Guatemala. He asked Hernández to work closely with the other leaders to help develop a plan to address the root causes of illegal migration from Central America, according to a statement from the vice president's office.
The vice president addressed the same issues in a subsequent meeting in Guatemala with Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina, President Salvador Sánchez Cerén of El Salvador, and representatives of the governments of Honduras and Mexico.
Obama administration reveals new response
Biden's visit to Central America was part of the Obama administration's response to what it calls an “urgent humanitarian situation.”
US authorities estimate that between 60,000 and 80,000 children without parents will cross the border this year alone.
The majority of children detained by the U.S. Border Patrol along the southwest border this month have been concentrated in the Rio Grande Valley sector of Texas, according to a congressional notice Friday.
As of June 18, 3,103 unaccompanied children from 11 countries were in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody along that border, most from Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico and Guatemala, according to the notice.
The federal government does not have the processing capacity to handle this type of influx of illegal human trafficking. But the Obama administration has now coordinated a government response to the crisis.
The new plan announced Friday includes a big influx of spending into the USAID program, including $40 million to Guatemala to improve security, $25 million to El Salvador to help with a crime and violence prevention program and youth at risk, and $18.5 million for the Central American Regional Security Initiative in Honduras for crime and gang prevention efforts.
The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security are also taking additional steps to try to mitigate the still-unfolding immigration crisis.
The agencies are “increasing government resources to increase (the) ability to detain individuals and adults who bring their children with them and to handle immigration court hearings as quickly and efficiently as possible while protecting to those seeking asylum.”
“This is an extraordinary interagency effort to address an urgent humanitarian situation,” Cecilia Muñoz, White House domestic policy director, said in a conference call about the new administration plan.
Opponents of the Obama administration remain skeptical of immigration policies that lead to minors crossing the border.
On Friday, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin toured a temporary shelter at Fort Sill that houses about 600 unaccompanied minors (ages 12 to 17) who illegally crossed the U.S. southern border.
Fallin criticized President Barack Obama for “lax immigration policies that have led to an illegal immigration crisis.”
“This facility is designed for our soldiers to train and prepare to protect our nation,” Fallin said. “Instead, the federal government is using it as a cross between a boarding school and a detention center for illegal immigrants. “President Obama should not use our military facilities as a tool to cover up his failed immigration policies.”
The Obama administration intends to close the Fort Sill housing center for undocumented children within the next 120 days.
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