Bailey: "Idiot pictured in middle to represent America?"
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is
summoning Central American leaders to the White House to discuss the
influx of young immigrants from their countries to the U.S., hoping to
show presidential action even as Congress remains deeply split over
proposals to stem the crisis on the border.
The meeting comes as the administration is considering creating a
pilot program giving refugee status to young people from Honduras, White
House officials said Thursday. The plan would involve screening youths
in their home country to determine whether they qualify for refugee
status. The program would be limited and would start in Honduras but
could be expanded to include other Central American countries.
Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, speaking Thursday in
Washington, said he hadn't heard about the plan but expected it to come
up Friday. He said Central American nations have sought to pursue a
unified approach. "We expect that the solution to this problem also is
equal for the three countries," he said.
Besides Molina, Obama was to host Honduran President Juan Orlando
Hernandez and El Salvador's President Salvador Sanchez Ceren on Friday,
the day after they met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are
considering Obama's requests for emergency funds and additional
authority to send unaccompanied children back to their home countries
more quickly. Those lawmakers appear unlikely to resolve their
differences on either front before leaving Washington late next week for
their annual August recess.
With critics claiming Obama's own policies triggered the crisis, the
president has been eager to demonstrate an aggressive approach to
reducing the flow of immigrants and returning those found not to have a
legitimate claim to stay here.
The U.S. has mounted a communications campaign to inform Central
American residents that they won't be allowed to stay in the U.S., and
Obama sent a team to Texas this week to weigh the possibility of
dispatching the National Guard to the border.
Under the in-country screening program the White House is
considering, the legal standard for youths to qualify for refugee status
would remain the same as it is for those who seek the status after
arriving in the U.S., officials said, adding that the goal is to deter
children who would not ultimately qualify for refugee status from
attempting the dangerous trek. The officials briefed reporters ahead of
Obama's meeting on the condition they not be identified by name.
More than 57,000 minors have arrived since October, mostly from
Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The trio of nations has become one
of the most violent regions in the world in recent years, with swaths of
all three countries under the control of drug traffickers and street
gangs that rob, rape and extort ordinary citizens with impunity.
In recent weeks the number of children being apprehended daily has
fallen by roughly half, but White House officials said seasonal patterns
or other factors unrelated to the administration's efforts may be to
thank for some of the decline.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, met with the Guatemalan and Honduran presidents
Thursday. He said he was impressed by what the leaders were doing to
crack down on human trafficking. Yet he said he also made clear the
responsibility those governments had to follow through as the U.S.
considers sending more money to Central America to help address the
problem.
Obama has asked Congress for $3.7 billion in emergency spending, but
lawmakers were looking at cutting that number down significantly. At the
same time, Republicans said they wouldn't agree to any money without
policy changes to give the government more authority to turn kids around
fast at the border and send them home.
