Obama pushes Congress on child-migrant funding

President Barack Obama called on Congress Wednesday to approve $3.7 billion in funding to process — and in most cases send back — a tidal wave of child migrants from Central America who the administration says have overwhelmed available resources. He was forthright about his frustration in dealing with political deadlock holding up the money.

“Are folks more interested in politics, or are they interested in solving the problem?” the president asked during a press conference in Dallas.

Obama took the opportunity to scold Congress for its inaction on wider immigration reform, pointing out how a bill, passed by the Senate but rejected in the House last year, would have added 20,000 Border Patrol agents while providing a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

For five years, Obama has faced criticism from immigration advocates for failing to push comprehensive immigration reform through Congress. Some of his critics refer to him as the “deporter in chief” because many immigrants to the United States brought here as children now face deportation just like adults who decided to migrate to the U.S. on their own.

The president also said the United States would do what it could to help Central American countries improve security so parents don’t feel their children would be safer making the treacherous trek north than staying at home where they might become victims of violence plaguing the region. 

Obama also blamed human traffickers for exploiting fears of migrants and taking advantage of "the compassion of the American people" by abandoning migrants at the borders, where the U.S. must provide for their well-being until they can be deported. 

The president also made clear that the White House would pursue new legal powers allowing the deportation of illegal Central American migrants as quickly as those from Mexico.

Because Central American countries do not share borders with the United States, current law makes the deportation process more involved, the president said.

El Salvador's ambassador to the U.S. has said American officials asked him about setting up chartered flights to return child migrants. He told Al Jazeera he was opposed to the idea. 

Many of the children end up in facilities ill equipped to handle their needs or those of their parents, usually their mothers, who sometimes accompany their children. Many children cross the border alone. 

After meeting with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Obama said he was open to the idea of putting National Guard troops along the border, but called this a temporary fix. Immigration reform could address the problem for decades into the future, he said. 

Perry also expressed his hope that new commitments of resources and cash could help swamped border authorities. 

“Five hundred miles south of here in the Rio Grande Valley there is a humanitarian crisis unfolding that has been created by bad public policy, in particular the failure to secure the border,” Perry said in a press release.

“Securing the border is attainable, and the president needs to commit the resources necessary to get this done.”

The president addressed Perry's desire for him to visit the border himself by saying he wasn't interested in a photo opportunity. 

"This isn't theater. This is a problem," Obama said, adding that he is fully briefed by Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson about what’s happening at the border.