The immigration crisis is now officially a humanitarian crisis as thousands of unaccompanied children have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in hopes of immigration amnesty. Some media sources have reported that the children have been coached on what to say when intercepted by U.S. Border police. By claiming that they are seeking political asylum or fleeing from fighting in their home country, they cannot be deported under a law known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The law requires that each minor be given an individual hearing to determine whether or not they can be deported to their home countries.
Since the law has been in effect, more than 520,000 people have received permits to stay and work in the U.S according to the LA Times. Republican lawmakers want to amend the law because of a belief these children know how to ‘game the system’ to get access to federal entitlements. There is a belief among many republican conservatives that President Obama is to blame for the influx of immigrants. Last week on MSNBC U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, stated that children were coming through Mexico from Central America by Obama’s “invitation.”
“I think we’re overlooking the obvious here,” Inhofe told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd on Thursday. “I went down and talked to these kids. … These kids were here in this country at the invitation of the president. I think everyone knows it, nobody says it.” When asked by Chuck Todd to clarify his comments Inhofe went on to state “[Through] his DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, [Obama] is making it sound as if, ‘Come here, we’ll take care of you,’ and they all believe this. I talked to them individually, and I speak enough Spanish that I could do this. All of them were programmed to say that they had relatives here, they’re invited to come up here, they’re going to stay here — at the same time the HHS says, ‘We’re not going to send them back,’ so long as they have that assurance, more are coming in.”
The Obama administration has requested $3.7 billion to tackle the current crisis. His request is not expected to be granted by Congress as the political wrangling continues over the mass immigration of Central American children.
