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 The White House has asked for $3.7 billion in emergency funds to
help pay for border security, temporary detention centers and
additional immigration court judges to process asylum cases.
The Obama administration warned lawmakers on Thursday that border
security agencies would run out of money this summer if the request
was not approved.
Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said when asked about
the spending bill that the priority had to be stopping the flow of
children and teenagers from Central America to the United States.
"The best way to do that is for planeloads of these young people to
be returning to the country of origin," he told CNN's "State of the
Union." "As soon as they (parents) see their money is not effective
in getting their kids to this country, it will stop."
More than 52,000 children traveling alone from Central America have
been caught at the U.S.-Mexico border since October, twice as many
as the same period the year before.
 U.S. immigration officials say the crisis is being driven by poverty
and gang and drug violence in Central America, as well as rumors
perpetuated by smugglers that children who reach the U.S. border
will be permitted to stay.
House of Representatives Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold
Rogers said last week that the Obama administration asked for "too
much money" but declined to say what an appropriate figure would be.
Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, also declined to
support the spending bill. "We're not going to write a blank check
for over $4 billion," he told "Fox News Sunday." McCaul is chairman
of the House Homeland Security Committee.
McCaul said he would support changing a 2008 law that requires
deportation proceedings for children that arrive from countries that
do not share a border with the United States. This would allow
authorities to quickly deport newly arrived Central American
children, as they do Mexican children.
McCaul said that bill could see action this summer.
"It's a very tragic human crisis at the border, none like I've ever
seen before. I think we have to act before the August recess," he
said.
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The bill saw opposition from one Democrat, Representative Joaquin
Castro of Texas.
"That 2008 law, passed under George W. Bush, was passed for a
reason," he told NBC's "Meet the Press." "Many people believe that
these kids should have a chance to make their case for asylum. So I
think we've got to be careful when we consider completely doing away
with that law."
Texas Governor Rick Perry pressed the White House to send National
Guard troops to the border to aid the border patrol, which has been
stretched thin by the mass influx of minors.
"They need to be right there on the river because that's the message
that gets back to Central America. It's important to do that because
this flood of children is pulling the border patrol away from their
normal duty of keeping bad people (out)," he told "Fox News Sunday."
Perry also said that conversations among Central Americans had been
monitored.
"We listen to the conversations. Er, I should say that, the
conversations are being monitored with calls back to Central America
and the message is, 'Hey, c'mon up here. Everything is great.
They're taking care of us,'" he said.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Jim Loney and Cynthia
Osterman)
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