Democratic opposition increased Wednesday to legal changes that would speed removals of young Central American migrants, jeopardizing President Barack Obama’s call for $3.7 billion in emergency border spending to deal with the surge of unaccompanied youths at the south Texas border.
Republicans insist they won’t agree to the spending without accompanying changes to a 2008 law that gives unaccompanied minors arriving from Central American the right to an immigration hearing. Because of backlogs, the youths can end up staying in this country for months or years while waiting for a hearing.
But Democratic resistance to such changes hardened, with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi changing her stance Wednesday and announcing her opposition to altering the law in a way that would create shortcuts around the immigration court system for Central American youths.
Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus also took a firm stand against any changes and met with President Barack Obama on Wednesday to press the point.
“We made an impassioned plea that the children be protected and that we follow the law,” Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., said after the meeting.
The White House has said it wants Congress to give the administration expanded authority to more quickly send back unaccompanied minors from Central American who are crossing the border, but officials have not spelled out what specific provisions they would like.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said Obama assured the group that the due process rights of the minors would not be compromised, while Gutierrez said Obama does not need a change in law to speed up the immigration process.
“I think within existing law, he can achieve what he needs,” Gutierrez said. “Look, I didn’t come to Congress to diminish and abolish protections that people have.”
The lawmakers also spent time pressing Obama to take executive actions to decrease deportations of immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally but who have been in the country for some time. Obama has said he is reviewing his options and promised to act on his own after House Republican leaders made it clear there would be no vote this year on a comprehensive overhaul of immigration law.
For the moment, the surge of minors across the border has taken precedence over the broader issue of affording legal status to immigrants who are already in the country.
“We can do justice to both situations,” Castro said after the meeting with Obama. “It’s certainly juggling two balls at once, but we can do that. I come away with hope on both.”
Much of the $3.7 billion in emergency spending Obama is seeking to address the border crisis would be used to increase enforcement at the border and to provide additional facilities to house unaccompanied minors, most of whom come from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
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