Rep. Kay Granger said she plans to release "sensible, humane, but tough recommendations" on the immigration crisis on the southern border early in the coming week.
"This is not a political problem," said the Texas Republican, who heads a seven-member group established by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to establish a plan for curbing the flood of unaccompanied minors coming in from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador,
reports Politico. "This is an urgent crisis that must be dealt with immediately."
Meanwhile, back home in Dallas,
Granger told The Dallas Morning News that a county plan to house more than 2,000 migrant children in the county's schools is misguided.
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On Friday, Granger said the working group in Washington believes there are many steps that can be taken to "stop individuals, mostly women and children, from making the horrific trip from Central America to our southern border."
In addition, said Granger, the nation must ensure the border is secured and minors are "repatriated back to their home country in a swift and humane way, while ensuring proper protections are in place for the children who need them.”
The group has already missed some deadlines, but members are busy releasing their own proposals, reports Politico. Virginia Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte favors asylum, while Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, has a plan that resembles one the group will likely recommend: treating the migrant children like immigrants from Mexico would be handled and sending them home more quickly.
"I appreciate the legislative solutions being introduced by members of the working group and look forward to incorporating many of their ideas in our recommendations," Granger said.
Granger said she thinks the goal should be to send children who aren't victims of child trafficking or other criminal activities back to their homelands, not kept housed in county schools.
"I don’t think a school is set up to be a shelter or home for a child, even for a short time," said Granger. "We’re on the wrong track of planning on how to take care of the 58,000 children who have come here.”
The plan for housing children had been suggested by Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who offered the county’s help to deal with the influx of children from Central America.
He commented Friday that the immigrant situation is a "humanitarian crisis," and that his county "is doing our job to help these children...it's time for Congress to go back to work and do their jobs" while approving President Barack Obama's request for $3.7 billion to address the situation.
Granger opposes Obama's request, saying the spending anticipates the immigrants will be in the United States illegally for years, instead of for just a short period favored by her target group in Washington.
In addition, Granger opposes moving the immigrant children too far from the southern border, as the goal should be processing them as quickly as possible.
"We should keep them as close as possible,” she said. “Their countries had them and are better able to take care of them.”
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