Guatemala President Otto Perez Molina, and Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez said yesterday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies event that as part of its ‘shared responsibility' for the situation at the border, the U.S. needs to clear up 'ambiguities' in its immigration process
BTW...If he's really trying to put a stop to illegals where's the Mexican president?
President Barack Obama, second from right, hosts a meeting with El Salvador's President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, left, Guatemala's President Otto Perez Molina, second from left, and Honduras's President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Isn't he and his predecessors the worse offenders? Furthermore, aren't illegals from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador traveling through his country to get to the U.S.?
President Barack Obama said Friday that the U.S. could establish a limited refugee program in Central America, allowing people to apply for entry to the country without first making the often-dangerous journey to the U.S.
Note to self: Illegals morphed once again. They're now refugees.
The White House hopes that such a program would discourage people who don't qualify for refugee status from trying to enter the U.S. on their own.
Really?
And how do we discourage this behavior? By providing EBT cards, Section 8, voting rights, a drivers license, and according to Hilda Solis “the right to a fair wage”? WOW what a f------ deterrent!
I think the message being sent here is... Hell don't make this dangerous trek to America because we'll provide the transportation and the accommodations.
Think this is a joke?
Is it a joke Barry is presently engaged in using taxpayer dollars to ship illegals unannounced all over the United States? Does anyone really think they're going to show up for a deportation hearing?
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President Barack Obama said Friday that the U.S. could establish a limited refugee program in Central America, allowing people to apply for entry to the country without first making the often-dangerous journey to the U.S.
Should it be created, the program would be part of a broader effort to stem a surge in unaccompanied minors and families illegally crossing the border into the U.S. Mr. Obama mentioned the possible program at the White House after meeting with the presidents of the three Central American countries at the heart of the immigration influx, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
The White House hopes that such a program would discourage people who don't qualify for refugee status from trying to enter the U.S. on their own.
Mr. Obama discouraged speculation that a new program would be available to a broad swath of Central Americans, saying that there may be some young people who could be given refugee status without leaving their home countries. He noted that refugee status isn't granted based on economic need "or because a family lives in a bad neighborhood" or in poverty.
He said that such a program "would not necessarily accommodate a large number of additional minors."
Administration officials have said that a refugee program for Honduras is under consideration and that it could be expanded to Guatemala and El Salvador. Many of the child migrants in the current surge are coming from Honduras, which in recent years has been gripped by gang violence and has one of the world's highest homicide rates.
U.S. immigration officials have been overwhelmed by an influx of unaccompanied Central American minors. Since the fiscal year began in October, U.S. officials have apprehended more than 57,000 children traveling alone across the southern border. Tens of thousands more people have come in family groups.
Mr. Obama said that in his meeting Friday, he told the Central American leaders that they need to continue working to deter the influx of children to the U.S. and emphasized that children who don't qualify to stay will be sent home.
He said the four leaders discussed how to expedite the process used to determine whether children can stay in the U.S., a process that can take years under the existing system.
Mr. Obama also said that initial reports show their joint efforts to diminish the surge "appear to be paying off," with apprehensions of unaccompanied minors at the Rio Grande Valley down significantly over the last several weeks.
"There may be some narrow circumstances in which there is humanitarian or refugee status that a family might be eligible for," the president told reporters. "If that were the case, it would be better for them to be able to apply in-country rather than face a very dangerous journey all the way up to Texas to make those same claims."
"All of us recognize that we have a shared responsibility to resolve this problem," he said.
The U.S. has set up refugee programs before—in Haiti, Vietnam, the former Soviet Union—but a program in Central America would be the first for a country reachable from the U.S. by land.
