Bill would speed removals of Central American kids

WASHINGTON - Two Texas lawmakers announced legislation Monday to speed removals of tens of thousands of Central American kids from the U.S.-Mexico border, as Washington searched for a solution to the growing crisis.

The bill by Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, and Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, would allow U.S. Border Patrol agents to turn many of the kids around quickly at the border. Under current law, the youths stay here while awaiting an eventual hearing in the backlogged immigration court system, something that can keep them in this country for years.

Of more than 57,000 unaccompanied minors who've arrived at the border since October, only 1,254 had been returned home as of the end of June, according to a law enforcement official who spoke anonymously to discuss confidential data.

"The border region in Texas has been overwhelmed over the past few months by a deluge of undocumented immigrants from Central America," Cuellar said in a statement. "Today's legislation strengthens current law protecting unaccompanied children and responds to the crisis."

The bill comes as the White House is trying to get Congress to sign off on a $3.7 billion emergency spending request to deal with the situation at the border by adding more immigration judges and detention facilities, among other steps.

Republicans have made clear they won't agree to such spending without policy changes along the lines of what Cornyn and Cuellar are seeking, and the White House has indicated support for some such changes. But immigrant advocacy groups and key Senate Democrats are opposed, making it unclear if a deal can be struck in the three weeks that remain before Congress leaves Washington for its annual August recess.

Administration officials were to travel to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to brief senators on the situation, and House members were to hear from lawmakers who traveled to Central America over the weekend as part of a working group convened by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which strongly opposes legal changes to return kids more quickly to dangerous and unstable situations, announced a meeting with President Barack Obama over the crisis.

Meanwhile U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that the first flight returning Central American families back home landed in Honduras Monday with 40 people on board who'd been held in a new detention facility in Artesia, New Mexico.

The Cornyn-Cuellar bill would amend a 2008 law passed to address victims of sex trafficking. That legislation guaranteed protections to unaccompanied youths arriving here from "noncontiguous" countries - anywhere except Mexico or Canada. The existing law requires such youths to be turned over to the custody of the Health and Human Services Department within 72 hours, and from there they are generally placed with family members or others while awaiting a long-distant court hearing they may never attend.

The Cornyn-Cuellar bill would allow Central American kids to be treated the same as Mexican youths, who can be sent back over the border quickly unless they are able to persuade Border Patrol agents that they have a fear of return, meriting further screening.

White House and Obama administration officials have said they support this change, but in face of objections from allies in the immigrant advocacy community they have yet to propose it officially. Spokesman Josh Earnest said the White House welcomes "constructive engagement from Republicans" but will wait to see the actual legislation.

The bill also aims to speed the court process for those who do enter it.

Meanwhile, about 40 Central American immigrants detained briefly in New Mexico were deported Monday, officials confirmed.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the immigrants were placed on a plane in Roswell and flown to Honduras, but the agency did not say when they arrived. The adults and their children previously were housed at temporary detention center in Artesia, the agency said.

More immigrants being held in Artesia will be sent back to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador soon, as part of an effort to quickly remove immigrants who were part of a recent surge along the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said.

"As President Obama, the vice president and (Homeland Security) Secretary (Jeh) Johnson have said, our border is not open to illegal migration, and we will send recent illegal migrants back," ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said.

The deported immigrants are part of the nearly 82,000 migrants from Central America who have already been returned this fiscal year, she said.

Last month, the Obama administration announced plans to convert the Artesia facility into one of several temporary sites being established to deal with the influx of women and children fleeing gang violence and poverty in Central America. The three barracks at the Artesia site can hold up to nearly 700 people as they await deportation or seek asylum.

Currently, about 400 are being detained by the facility, officials said.