DHS Secretary Johnson gives no clear answers on whether illegal immigrant children will be deported

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson dodged pointed questions Sunday about whether the tens of thousands of Central American children who have recently entered the U.S. illegally will be deported or allowed to stay.
His responses on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and those of other Obama administration officials about what exactly they will do about the estimated 50,000 children who have entered the U.S. illegally in recent months are being characterized as ambiguous, as officials try to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
Johnson said everybody who crossed the border faces a “pending” deportation proceeding but also repeated recent administration talking points about looking at ways to “create additional options.”
“There’s deportation proceeding pending against everybody coming illegally across the border,” he said, while also repeating the administration’s argument about dealing with a 2008 law that gives some protection to illegal immigrants from non-bordering countries.
Johnson also dismissed questions about not having enough resources at the border and expressed optimism the U.S. will stop the flow of illegals into the country, estimated in the hundreds of thousands since spring.
“Our border is not open for illegal immigration,” he told NBC. “And we will stem the tide.”
He also suggested that America’s first obligation is to the incoming children, over sovereignty.
“We have to do right by the children,” Johnson said.
His remarks were sharply criticized by Idaho GOP Rep. Raul Labrador, who called the administration’s public response to the crisis “shameful.”
“The administration needs to deport these families and children,” said Labrador, who appeared on the show after Johnson. “I know it sounds harsh and difficult, but it's better for the children. Send these children back in a humanitarian way. We can do it safely and efficiently.”
He also dismissed the narrative that the children are being sent unaccompanied to the U.S. border as a result of violence in their own countries.  
“The violence has existed for a long time,” Labrador said. “It's over the last two years that you've seen an increase in the children.”
While some of the children are living with relatives in this country, others remain in the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Johnson declined to say whether Obama will visit the border while in Texas this week.
"The president can't be every place he'd like to be or should be," he said. Johnson also said he didn’t think the protests in Murrieta, Calif., about illegal immigrants being bussed from Texas to be housed in their city was representative of how fellow residents and the rest of America feel.
On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked by a reporter whether he could say “without ambiguity” if the children will be deported.
“What I can say without ambiguity is that the law will be applied and there is going to be a due process that they’ll all be subjected to,” Earnest replied. “So I wouldn’t stand here and say how those claims will be processed; it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to do so. But the law will be rigorously applied.”
He also said the administration is seeking “additional authority” from Congress.

US increases security at foreign airports, focus on cellphone, other electronic devices

Passengers taking international flights into the United States now must have their cell phones and other electronic devices pass additional inspection before boarding planes, as part of the Transportation Security Administration’s most recent strategy to protect against the threat of a new type of terror attack.
The TSA said Sunday it is requiring only some overseas airports to conduct the additional inspections. The agency also said devices that fail to power up won't be allowed on planes and that their owners might have to undergo extra screening before boarding.
“As the traveling public knows, all electronic devices are (already) screened by security officers,” the agency said in a release.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Wednesday ordered the TSA to put extra security measures in place at some international airports with direct flights to the U.S., based on intelligence that suggests new Al Qaeda efforts to produce a bomb that would go undetected through airport security.
Some experts have suggested such a device would be planted in a laptop or other such electronic devices.
“Our job is to try to anticipate the next attack, not simply react to the last one,” Johnson said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “So we continually evaluate the world situation. And we know that there remains a terrorist threat to the United States. And aviation security is a large part of that.”
Johnson said he and others in the Obama administration would continue to evaluate whether the increased security will be applied to U.S. domestic flights.
The beefed up security is almost certainly a response to recent intelligence reports suggesting that Al Qaeda-linked terrorists in Syria are working with members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to blow up a commercial aircraft headed to the U.S. or Europe, as reported first by ABC News.
Americans and others from the West have traveled to Syria over the past year to join Al Nusra Front's fight against the Syrian government.
One fear is fighters with a U.S. or Western passport -- and therefore subject to less stringent security screening -- could carry such a bomb onto an American plane.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has long been fixated on bringing down airplanes with hidden explosives. It was behind failed and thwarted plots involving suicide bombers with explosives designed to hide inside underwear and explosives hidden inside printer cartridges shipped on cargo planes.
An American Airlines spokesman said last week that the company has been in contact with U.S. officials about the new requirements but declined to comment further.
The United Kingdom also said it is increasing security measures “in conjunction with international partners and the aviation industry.” Officials also said they don’t anticipate significant disruptions for passengers and that they will not raise the terror-threat level.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.