Obama: Migrant youths without claims will be sent home

[Lite Beer]

Obama: Migrant youths without claims will be sent home

President Barack Obama has told Central American leaders that migrant children flooding into the US without legitimate legal claims will be sent home.

The presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador met Mr Obama at the White House on Friday to discuss the crisis at the US southern border.

More than 50,000 children, many unaccompanied, have been detained at the border since October.

Mr Obama said they must deter more children from attempting the journey.

"All of us recognise that we have a shared responsibility to address this problem," Mr Obama told reporters at the White House on Friday, flanked by Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and El Salvador President Salvador Sanchez Ceren.

Read More: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28490544

-- BBC 2014-07-26

[Ulysses G.]

Does anyone really believe him? I certainly don't.

[Jingthing]

The U.S. needs to work with the countries where the desperate kiddies are coming from to prevent this from happening in future. That seems to be happening now. The leaders are talking.

Yes I think some will be sent back and some will be accepted based on their individual cases.

Edited July 27, 2014 by Jingthing

[boomerangutang]

The US and Europe face similar challenges, in a general sense. In a nutshell, both are economically strong enclaves with strong social welfare programs. And both have hordes of miserable 3rd worlders desperate to get there. It's been said that the border with the greatest disparity between rich and poor, is the one at Tijuana. Perhaps that still holds true.

If i was a youngster from Mali or Honduras, I would try sneaking across the border also.

50,000 in ten months is large number (and those are just the ones who were caught and processed). That's an average of 170/day. It could climb to five to ten times that amount in the near future.

[boomerangutang]

Another way to look at it: Less than 200 years ago, any objective observer would have guessed New Mexico, Arizona, and the lower parts of California and Texas would have stayed (or become) provinces of Mexico. From that perspective, the Latinos are spreading over territory they recently owned.

[Scott]

I spent a number of years involved in the screening of unaccompanied minors for refugee status. The task is not an easy one, since children are not always aware of the reasons they have been sent across the border. They often do not know family histories or dangers faced in their home country. As a result, screening them is rather labor intensive. I am not sure what situation is happening in their home countries that would engender granting of political asylum.

Minors are also usually accorded two possibilities, first the possibility of refugee status and second, a durable solution. The durable solution is taken into account if they are not a refugee. A durable solution may be to resettle the child IF the family situation is such that returning a child would endanger a child.

As a general rule, children belong with their parents. Even children from very poor families are generally considered to be better off parents than in a social welfare system. Obviously there are children whose parents will be deceased or imprisoned or can't be found. For them resettlement is a viable option.

[zydeco]

The U.S. needs to work with the countries where the desperate kiddies are coming from to prevent this from happening in future. That seems to be happening now. The leaders are talking.

Yes I think some will be sent back and some will be accepted based on their individual cases.

According to this LA Times story, almost 40,000 of the "kiddies" are between 13 and 17. Only around 7500 are under 12. It doesn't stop the LA Times, of course, from running a scare headline that uses percentages to make the problem look bigger than it is. http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-illegal-immigration-unaccompanied-minors-20140724-story.html#page=1

[Smurkster]

The Whole thing is just sad...without a whole lot of easy options to tap into

[BadBouy]

Drop them back in Mexico's lap that will convince the Mexican government to stop allowing the open flow of human trafficking for profit. When it becomes their problem how much do you want to bet it stops quickly. Inept US government cannot control it's borders job #1! Stop the flow, and devise a way for adequate legal immigration.. If you are here illegally go to the back of the line and wait your turn behind those who are inline trying to enter properly. Save the sob stories no exceptions, I'm sure the people in line trying to do it the right way have stories too..

[Thaiready]

Send them all packing

[mogoso]

Does anyone really believe him? I certainly don't.

The man has shown to lie consistantly, the truth ain't in him. Only a small percentage of the illegals are these children. A growing number of them are leaving their prayer rugs and Quran's behind. The Obama administration will not let anyone get a look at the people they are housing, so he may send a few of the children back for show, the non Hispanic adults will be scattered around the country.

[zydeco]

If the "children" are actually "refugees" seeking asylum from violence, then they should receive refuge in the first safe country they reach. That would be Mexico. Rwandan refugees were set up in refugee centers in Tanzania and Burundi, Syrian in Turkey, Cambodian in Thailand, Burmese in Thailand. No true refugee travels from Mexico's Guatemalan border to the US border in order to be a refugee. No true refugee travels all the way through a country that shares many cultural and linguistic similarities with your own in order to get to an entirely different place. Unless, of course, they are not true refugees but just people looking for free stuff.

Edited July 28, 2014 by zydeco

[Scott]

A person is a refugee because they face persecution, not because of violence. Violence and war and usually considered to be problems that will be solved over time. People fleeing these situations are generally considered to be displaced people. They may be internally displaced or externally displaced.

The majority of Syrians in Turkey, for example, are displaced.

To be a political refugee there has to be other issues and the persecution has to be for specific reasons. Poverty and even discrimination are not grounds for refugee status.

[tigermonkey]

It is particularly frustrating to see that there is no representation from the Mexican government in these discussions. Mexico is facilitating and profiting from the transmigration of these economic youth migrants across their country. Of course, it is not their problem, and so they will take no action to curtail the activity.

Make a strong double statement NOW - start sending them all back home and immediately repeal the 2008 Asylum Law, or at least that portion which relates to unaccompanied minors.

Mr. Obama - throwing more money at the situation will not solve it !

[chuckd]

It's all about politics and deflecting the voting public from his many failures.

Obama's administration is facing a 2014 election that could very likely cause his party to lose control of the Senate. One third of the Senate is up for reelection and there are quite a few Democratic Senators that are in danger of losing their seats.

Obama is doing everything he can think of to rouse his base and get them fired up for the November election. Raising the immigration issue will help in that regard.

What the Republicans must NOT do is overreact to any action Obama might take when he is issuing even more questionably unconstitutional Presidential decrees. Let him play his games and then turn out the vote in November. Impeach him AFTER the election and control of the Senate is confirmed.

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White House pursuing plan to expand immigrant rights

By CHRISTI PARSONS, BRIAN BENNETT, LISA MASCARO

Even as President Obama grapples with the crisis of immigrant children arriving at the Southwest border, White House officials are laying the groundwork for a large-scale expansion of immigrant rights that would come by executive action within weeks.

Officials signaled strongly Friday that Obama's move would shield from deportation large numbers of immigrants living in the country illegally, as advocacy groups have demanded.

<snip>

That move will come by the end of the summer, White House senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer told reporters Friday. Some officials had advocated waiting until after the November midterm election.

Any such move would prompt a major clash with congressional Republicans, and at least some White House officials appeared to relish the prospect that the GOP might overreach in its response and act in a politically self-destructive manner.

When the decision is announced, it will "increase the angry reactions from Republicans," Pfeiffer said.

More here: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-obama-immigration-20140726-story.html#page=1&panel=comments