White House to request $2 billion to handle border influx of children
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-ff-arizona-border-influx-of-minors-20140609-story.html
A bus carrying migrant children arrives at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Nogales, Ariz., over the weekend.
White House to request $2 billion to handle border influx of children
Cindy Carcamo
June 9, 2014
A rush of young children crossing alone and illegally into the United States from Texas is so large and unexpected that senior officials with the Obama administration said Monday the White House is asking Congress for about $2 billion to grapple with what is being called a humanitarian crisis.
Immigration agents are so overwhelmed that some children are being kept in detention and being processed during a longer time period than the 72-hour maximum requirement, these senior administration officials acknowledged. The officials briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
Although they said they had been prepared for an increase this year in the Rio Grande Valley, the influx was much greater than anticipated. As many as 90,000 minors are forecast to enter the U.S. this year without their parents or guardians, the officials said.
But these officials also reiterated that the increased influx of unaccompanied children who are crossing illegally into the United States through Texas is due to escalating violence in Central America and not because of false rumors that people who cross will be eligible for some sort of permanent immigration relief.