"We want to actually fix the law, and wouldn't it be good to allow the governors of those border states to be able to call the National Guard and to help security the border? This all has to start with securing the border, not writing the president a blank check, to keep doing what he's doing that's not working.... And ultimately, this is the president's responsibility. He could fix the problem today. He's chosen not to, but the House is going to lead. [...] "It's ironic, we're here in Congress right now, and the president doesn't want to work with us while we're in town. He wants to wait until we're gone. The president has a lot of time on his schedule to secure fundraisers. He has no time to secure the border.... He's flying around doing fundraisers. He doesn't have time to come and sit down and work with Congress. We're going to get this problem solved. [...] "The House is going to take leadership.... And if the president wants to sit back and just continue to point fingers at other people, he's the president of the United States. He could solve this problem today. He's been AWOL on it. He doesn't want to solve this problem. But we do.... We're going to actually do our job."
"The Republicans don't really seem to want to work on immigration until it comes to deporting children," [USA Today columnist Kirsten Powers] said. "This is the only thing they really have been willing to do at this point, is just to say, 'We'll pass the bill to deport children, but we won't talk about any sort of broader comprehensive immigration issue.'" [George Will] agreed. "I think Kirsten is largely right. My view is that we have to say to the children, 'Welcome to America. You're going to go to school and get a job and become Americans.' We have 3,141 counties in this country. That would be 20 per county. The idea that we can't assimilate these 8-year-old criminals with their teddy bears is preposterous."
Hoping to stem the recent surge of migrants at the Southwest border, the Obama administration is considering whether to allow hundreds of minors and young adults from Honduras into the United States without making the dangerous trek through Mexico, according to a draft of the proposal. If approved, the plan would direct the government to screen thousands of children and youths in Honduras to see if they can enter the United States as refugees or on emergency humanitarian grounds. It would be the first American refugee effort in a nation reachable by land to the United States, the White House said, putting the violence in Honduras on the level of humanitarian emergencies in Haiti and Vietnam, where such programs have been conducted in the past amid war and major crises.