The Obama administration is shifting $405 million from other federal programs to respond to the thousands of Central American children who are illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without their parents.
The U.S. Homeland Security Department notified Congress of the changes Friday, when federal lawmakers left town for recess without acting on President Barack Obama’s emergency request for $3.7 billion. Obama had warned federal immigration agencies would run out of money, if Congress didn’t act on his spending plan.
Thousands of Central American children have been illegally crossing the southwest border, fleeing gang violence and poverty in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala and seeking to reunite with relatives in the U.S.
Here are the sources of the $405 million:
• $267.6 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund
• $31.5 million from U.S. Coast Guard’s maintenance projects
• $34.7 million from the Transportation Security Administration’s screening technology and maintenance budget
• $70.5 million from U.S. Customs and Border Protection
“As a result of Congressional inaction, the administration will continue to shift resources to the border to stop the flow of immigrants and do everything we can to humanely care for the tens of thousands of children who have arrived recently before we send many of them back to their home countries,” the White House said in a prepared statement Monday.
Last month, the federal government disclosed it had transferred 1,154 of these children to the care of sponsors in Georgia. That prompted an angry letter from Gov. Nathan Deal to Obama. A Republican running for reelection, Deal later softened his tone at a meeting his administration set up with Hispanic community leaders at the state Capitol.
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