President Obama called Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto today to discuss the upsurge of illegal immigrants crossing into the United States including thousands of children.
The Washington Times reported:
President Obama told his Mexican counterpart in a phone call Thursday that immigrants crossing into the U.S. illegally won’t qualify for legalized status or deferred deportation, including children.
The White House said Mr. Obama and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto discussed “a regional strategy” to address the surge of unaccompanied children coming from Central America, through Mexico, to the U.S.
With thousands of children trying to enter the U.S. illegally in recent months, Vice President Joseph R. Biden will visit Guatemala on Friday.
Mr. Biden will warn officials and parents that illegal immigration is dangerous and that youth won’t be allowed to stay in the U.S.
The administration says the new influx of child immigrants is due to rampant poverty and violence in countries such as Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
Critics of the administration, and people immigrating illegally, say the immigrants are drawn by the administration’s policies, including Mr. Obama’s program of “deferred action” on deporting youth.
Young boys sleep in a holding cell where hundreds of mostly Central American immigrant children are being processed and held at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Nogales Placement Center on Wednesday, June 18, 2014, in Nogales, Ariz. CPB provided media tours Wednesday of two locations in Brownsville, Texas, and Nogales, that have been central to processing the more than 47,000 unaccompanied children who have entered the country illegally since Oct. 1. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool)