The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
July 9, 2014

Obama Seeks $3.7 Billion for Migrant Crisis on U.S.-Mexico Border 
------------------------------------------------------------------


 
President Obama has asked Congress for $3.7 billion to address the
migrant crisis on the Mexico border. More than 52,000 unaccompanied
children fleeing violence and poverty in Central America have been
seized since October. Obama wants the increased funding to pay for
detention centers, aerial surveillance, immigration judges and border
agents. The $3.7 billion figure is nearly twice what had been expected.
The Obama administration says half of the money would go toward
improving children's care in U.S. custody. At the White House, Press
Secretary Josh Earnest said most children will ultimately face
deportation.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest: "By addressing that backlog,
we can ensure that those individuals have prompt access to the due
— to the due process to which they're entitled. It also means that
as those cases are resolved — and as we expect in the majority of
those cases, there will not be a basis for those individuals to remain
in the country and be granted humanitarian relief — that we expect
that the homeland security secretary will be able to exercise some
additional discretion that would allow him to repatriate those
individuals efficiently."

 

.