Speech #1140065350

How could we stem the tide of this seemingly endless migration of unaccompanied children from Central America? You dont have to look much further than the Presidents own Department of Homeland Security. One internal memo analyzing the surge of child and female migrants flooding the southwest border stated: "The main reason the subjects chose this particular time to migrate to the United States was to take advantage of the new U.S. Law that grants a free pass or permit." I think they call them permisos in Spanish. In other words. they came here because of the widespread perception that these unaccompanied children and women traveling with children would be allowed to stay here in defiance of our immigration laws. even after they crossed the border illegally. A similar study by the Department of Homeland Securitys Office of Science and Technology Directorate concluded that the unaccompanied minors "are aware of the relative lack of consequences they will receive when apprehended at the U.S. border." Apparently. at the time. these minors and their parents believed there would be no or little consequence to illegally coming into the United States. and tragically. sadly. they were right. In the wake of that crisis last summer. it became clear that the Presidents failed immigration policies. including his deferred action program and his overall lack of seriousness when it came to immigration enforcement. played a role in inducing thousands of families to risk their lives to travel to the United States. Until recently. we had perhaps been lulled into the misconception that this flood of migrants had stopped. But over the weekend. I was startled by news reportsperhaps I shouldnt have been surprised but I wasthat suggest this downward trend has started to reverse and in a big way. According to these reports. smugglers were again bringing hundreds of women and children into the United States across the Rio Grande. One from the New York Times noted that according to official data. "border Patrol apprehensions of migrant families . . . have increased 150 percent" from last year. The number of unaccompanied children has more than doubled. The bottom line is that. clearly. there is virtually nothing being done to deter these children and their families from illegally crossing the border and little or no consequences when they do.