|
 Human and drug traffickers are "perversely" exploiting confusion
about U.S. immigration policy, Hernandez told reporters on Capitol
Hill, flanked by Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina and U.S.
House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, before a
meeting with House Democrats.
Traffickers encourage Central Americans to risk the dangerous
journey north by telling them that U.S. policy allows them to stay
in the United States.
Hernandez, Perez Molina and El Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez
Ceren are scheduled to meet on Friday with U.S. President Barack
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to discuss ways to stop the flow
of children migrating from the three Central American countries.
In recent weeks, U.S. officials have talked about the need to beef
up long-term aid to the three countries, as well as focusing such
funds on economic development, as a long-term step toward
discouraging mass migration.
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez of
New Jersey warned, however, that increased U.S. assistance must be
accompanied by "equal commitments and funding from the governments
of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Menendez made his remarks in a statement after meeting with the
Central American leaders.
An estimated 90,000 "unaccompanied minors" are projected to show up
at the U.S. border with Mexico this year, hoping to escape gang
violence, poverty and domestic abuse and join relatives in the
United States.
The children have overwhelmed U.S. resources at the Texas-Mexico
border and are also creating a political problem for Obama, who has
long been pushing for changes to U.S. immigration policy.
The U.S. Senate, controlled by Obama's Democrats, last year passed a
comprehensive immigration bill that would provide a pathway to
citizenship for nearly 12 million undocumented residents, some of
whom are now encouraging their children in Central America to come
to the United States.
But the legislative effort died amid opposition from House
Republicans.
[to top of second column] |
Hernandez, speaking in Spanish through a translator, called "coyote"
drug smugglers "an enormous criminal hulk" and said that while many
operate in Central America and Mexico, others are "firmly planted
... in the United States under American jurisdiction."
The criminal gangs prey upon children in Central America,
threatening violence and death if they refuse to join their gangs.
But they also promise to bring children to the United States - for a
large fee - to be reunited with their relatives.
U.S. officials are pushing the governments of Honduras, Guatemala
and El Salvador, home to most of the migrant children, to do more to
get the message out that they will not be allowed to stay in the
United States.
The U.S. Congress is deeply divided over Obama's request for $3.7
billion in emergency funding to help address the crisis.
Both the Senate and Republican-controlled House are considering
cutting the funding level. But Republicans also want to attach
changes to a 2008 anti-trafficking law that would let Obama deport
the children more quickly, which would discourage the illegal
migration.
Democrats say any such move must be considered separately from the
emergency funds. Pelosi, who opposes changing the 2008 law, said
attention needs to be paid to the children's humanitarian needs and
"due process" in their deportation proceedings.
(Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Paul Simao)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
