quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call: mr. reid: mr. president?

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 839. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. mr. reid: aye. the presiding officer: all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. mr. reid: mr. president, there is a cloture motion at the desk. i would ask that it -- first of all, we haven't reported the nomination yet. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, federal energy regulatory commission, norman c. bay of new mexico to be a member of the federal regulatory commission. mr. reid: mr. president, there is a cloture motion at the desk. i would ask the chair that it be reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion.

we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of norman c. bay to be a member of the federal regulatory commission as signed by the following senators -- mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the reading be waived. i ask unanimous consent the quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. mr. reid: aye. the presiding officer: all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 842. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. mr. reid: aye. the presiding officer: all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, federal

energy regulatory commission, cheryl a.lafleur of massachusetts to be a member. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the -- first of all, mr. president, there is a cloture motion. i failed to recognize that at the desk. ski that it be reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the closings. -- the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate, on the nomination of cheryl a. lafleur -- mr. reid: i ask the reading be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now move to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it.

the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that at noon tomorrow, july 10, the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar numbers 903, 695 and 895, that the time until 2:00 p.m. be equally divided in the usual form on the donovan anonymous. upon the use or yielding back of that time, the senate proceed to vote with no intervening action or debate on the nominations in the order listed. that there be two minutes for debate divided in the usual form prior to the votes on the stillman and smith nominations. all roll call votes after the first be ten minutes in length. further, if any nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, any statements related to the nomination appear in the record and that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 2, on tuesday, july 15, at noon, the senate proceed to executive session to vote on the nomination to invoke cloture on executive calendars number 839 and 842 in the order listed. further, that if cloture is invoked on either of these nominations, that on tuesday, july 15, at 3:00 p.m., all postcloture time be expired, the senate proceed to vote on confirmation of nominations in the order upon which cloture was invoked. further, that there be two minutes for debate prior to each vote. if any nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table. and that the senate -- and that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and that the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business, snored be allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the energy committee be discharged from further consideration on h.r. 291, h.r. 356, and that the senate proceed to their consideration and the

consideration following calendar items en bloc. calendar number 256, 226, 359, 353, 361, 399, 369, -- mr. president, i made a mistake. that's calendar number 362, not 61. no. whoa. we need 361 also. should we start over? let's do that. mr. president, i move that we move en bloc to calendar number 256, which is h.r. 255, calendar number 226, which is h.r. 330, calendar number 359, which is h.r. 507, calendar number 353, h.r. 697, calendar number 361, which is h.r. 876. calendar number 362 which is h.r. 1158. calendar number 399 which is

h.r. 2337. calendar new mexico 369 which is h.r. 3110. calendar number 54 which is s. 247. calendar number 57 which is s. 311. calendar number 60 which is s. 354. calendar number 129 which is s. 363. calendar number 118 which is s. 476. and calendar number 120 which is s. 609. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, the senate will proceed to the measures en bloc. . mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendments to 247, s. 311, s. 476, s. 609 be agreed to, that the coburn amendment to s. 311 be agreed to, that the bills be read a third time and passed en bloc and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the

table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to consideration of h.r. 272. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 272, an act to designate the department of veterans' affairs and department of defense joint outpatient clinic to be constructed in marina, california, as the major general william h.vorley outpatient clinic. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent, mr. president, the bill be read three times, passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the committee on veterans' affairs be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 1216.

the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 1216, an act to designate the department of veterans' affairs vet center in prescott, arizona, as the dr. cameron mckinley department of veterans' affairs veterans center. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the bill be read a third time, passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the judiciaryial committee be discharged from further consideration of s. res. 417. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 417, designating october 30, 2014, as a national day of remembrance for nuclear weapons programs workers. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent -- the presiding officer: is there okay? without objection, so ordered.

mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, a very important piece of legislation. nuclear weapons program workers. mr. president, most of them were in nevada, the nevada test site. one time we had 12,000 people working there on a weapons program. and many of them got sick because we didn't know of the dangers of nuclear weapons. they were -- we had many of them set off aboveground. soldiers and workers would be out there and the stuff floating around. we still have there -- you can drive out there. after you get through all the security checkpoints, but they have bleachers that are still there that were set up to watch the nuclear weapons go off. and then we had -- we had about a thousand at the nevada test

site nuclear device that is were detonated aboveground, in tunnels, shafts. so there really does need to be a day of remembrance. i congratulate those senators who have moved this forward. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to s. res. 497. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 497, honoring the life and career of charles "chuck" knoll. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i am told there are two bills at the desk due for their first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the first time.

the clerk: s. 2578, a bill to ensure that employers cannot interfere in their employees' birth control and other health care decisions. s. 2579, a bill to require the secretary of state to offer rewards totaling up to $5 million for information on the kidnapping and murder of naftali frankel abdul that -- mr. reid: i ask for a second reading on these two bills but object to my own request. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. mr. reid: mr. president, i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the bill will be read for a second time on the next legislative day. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i had a conversation with the republican leader on monday, and he and i went over

things we had to do. we have a lot of work -- the presiding officer: mr. leader, the senate is in a quorum call. mr. reid: i will ask consent that be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i had a conversation with the republican leader on monday, and we went over the things we had to do this work period. we had a lot to do. and one of the things we are trying to do is, because we have so much going on around the country, namely in our states, that we want to try to balance what we do. and frankly we have some people who are running for office. but, mr. president, we have made great progress this week so far. we have -- we have been able to reach agreement on a number of things that we believe are important. so with having said that and i have gone over what we're going to do the next few days, i think it would be appropriate to announce to everyone that we're

going to not have any votes on monday. we have work we're going to have to do here on monday, but we're not going to have any votes. i think it's important that senators know that. we were planning on having a number of votes on monday. i think that's not necessary now. okay, mr. president. then having said that, we also have an agreement we hope to reach on a cloture vote for some time tomorrow on the bipartisan sportsmen's act. there will be a roll call vote at 2:00 p.m. on confirmation of donovan to be director of the office of management and budget followed by voice votes on a number of very important nominations dealing with kuwait and qatar. so, mr. president, if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. i have forgotten something.

well, i will be darned. we did. are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no. mr. reid: i know this is improper to do, but i'm trying to get out of here. i want to go watch the shootout of the soccer game. it's over? argentina won. i would have loved to have watched it. but it's all tim's fault or i could have watched it. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. on thursday, july 10. following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following any leader remarks, the senate be in a period of morning business until noon. senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. following that morning business, the senate will proceed to executive session as provided under the previous order.

finally, that the filing deadline for first-degree amendments be at 10:30 a.m. and second-degree amendments be at 11:30 a.m. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: we hope to reach an agreement and have cloture vote on the sportsmen's act tomorrow, but there will be a roll call vote as i have mentioned before at 2:00 p.m. and there will be s after that. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate standsobjection.

mr. mccain: i thank you, madam president. as my colleagues know, and the senator from texas and the senator from arizona, both senators understand, we are facing a crisis on our border. it's been changed now to a situation. i understand it's no longer a crisis, but a situation, according to the white house. and the senator from texas has

been to the border. i've been to our border. and we have seen this veritable flood of young people who have come to our country under the belief that they will be able to stay. and the real human tragedy here of many, as my colleague from texas and my friend from arizona knows, is that the trip from central america to the texas border, which is the closest place of arrival, is a horrible experience for these young people. young women are routinely violated. young men are mistreated. it's a terrible experience for them. and those who are for, quote, open borders, those who think that this is somehow acceptable, ignore the fact that this is a human rights issue of these young people who are enticed to

come to our country under false circumstances and suffer unspeakable indignities and even death along the way. the president of the united states, who initially said, state that had they would -- and state that had they would -- and and i would quote him, said that we had to stop this and initially said that we need to reverse the legislation that has encouraged the people from -- to come here. he said, quoting, kids all over the world have it tough, even children in america who live in dangerous neighborhoods. he told the group that he was addressing that he had to enforce the law, even if that meant deporting hard cases of minors involved. sometimes there is an inherent injustice. no president can solve that. obama said that presidents must send a message that you cannot

just show up on the border, leave for asylum or refugee status and up to get it. that anyone can come in and means that effectively we don't have any kind of system, obama said, we are a nation with borders that must be enforced. unfortunately that proposal -- and i would ask my friend from texas, it has nothing to do with the spelling the idea and the belief in central american countries that they can come here if they get to our border and kent state. they cannot. they cannot stay. if they believe their victims of persecution go to our consulate, embassy. we cannot have this on limited flow of individuals. finally, i will yield to my colleagues. what about people in other parts of the world? don't they need this kind of

relief? aren't they persecuted? what about the middle east? africa? this is selective morality that is being practiced here, i would say to my friend from texas. and we want people that come to this country legally, we want them to come and if they are persecuted, but we want an orderly fashion. finally i just remind my friends that despite what may be said, the fact is that the numbers indicate to young people and these terrible coyotes that are bringing them for thousands of dollars, and the los angeles times report in fiscal year 201,320,805 unaccompanied children from el salvador, guatemala, honduras or apprehended by the border patrol. only 16,609 were repatriated.

as my friend from texas what kind of messes that sense. >> mr. president, the distinguished senior senator from arizona, the administration has been sending mixed messages. first a call this a humanitarian crisis. then they called it a situation. they are sort of walking his back, but i just want to remind my colleagues from arizona what the president said the few years ago in el paso when people said we need better border secure -- security measures in place, he ridiculed people. you may remember this. he said that -- this is the president talking in el paso. you know, they said we needed to triple the border patrol bill be now they're going to say we need to quadruple the border patrol. a higher fence. maybe they will need a note to.

maybe they want alligators in the moat. they will never be satisfied. i and a stand that, he said. that is politics. the truth is, the measures we put in place are getting results . the truth is, mr. president, they're not getting the kind of results that the american people expect nor that these children who are being subjected to horrific conditions as there are smuggled from central america up to mexico to the united states command i would say one of the most puzzling things to me, i see my colleague from texas here i know governor perry has aboard the president to come visit the border. well, i will invite the governor to in immigration round table where i doubt the governor would get in a word. the president were probably just deliver another lecture. he is pretty good at that. that is 500 miles from where the problem is. having have a humanitarian crisis and not want to go see it

for yourself? maybe you will actually learn something? and i agree with the senator from arizona again. the bill that the administration sent over stripped-down all of the reforms that would actually go to solve the very problems that we all need to be saltier and instead ask for a blank check. >> the first thing that needs to be done is to amend the legislation which basically would then make every country treated the same way he can to do is countries would pre that has to be the first death. again and again i think it is important to emphasize their, this is a humanitarian issue, but it is a humanitarian issue about these children who are taking this 5920 days on top of a drain being taken and exploited by these terrible communities. should we have a system that of someone deserves asylum in this country that we can beef up our

consulate, beef up our embassy and come there and make their arguments. >> the senator is exactly right. the people who control illegal immigration and the cartels. by the way, they have discovered a new business model. they treat these children as commodities. they hold them for ransom. they sexually assault the young women. as you pointed out. and we don't know how many of these children start this perilous journey from central america some 1200 miles away and never make it to the united states. they simply die along the way. this is a horrific situation. but the senators from arizona might want to speak to this. the president acknowledged the

senate immigration bill to my none of these children would qualify. i ask me be the junior senator from arizona if he would care to comment about that the law that the president has advocated for, none of these children would be able to stay. >> that's correct. neither the president deferred action program nor legislation past year by the senate would allow people, no to have some type of legal status. in the case of the deferred action program he would have had to have been here by 2007. addison and legislation he would have had to live in nearby 2011 have a minimum. so it would not apply. the problem here is the root of it or the main part of it is that people coming from non contiguous countries to the u.s. many central american countries

like honduras, el salvador, guatemala, are treated differently than kids who come from mexico or canada. in the case of kids, unaccompanied minors from mexico or canada, believe the average is three days that we take care of them and repatriation or settled back. .. law that we have under the trafficking victims act, kids who come here need to be placed with a guardian or a family. and the president's proposal is asking nearly $2 billion for the department of health and human services, which has no role in border enforcement at all, none. it has no role in deportation or to repatriate these children back. it's simply to settle these children with families or guardians around the country. and i should note that h.h.s. does no due diligence whatsoever does no due diligence whatsoever were do well the country and i should note that a.j. just does

no due diligence whatsoever to ensure that the people they are placing them with our here legally and so the net effect is when a child goes to a legal guardian or a parent it's very unlikely that they will then show up later for deportation hearings and so in effect you are telling big cartels and the human smugglers and others, keep doing what you are doing because it works. when these unaccompanied minors get here they will be able to stay. they will be taking care of and as senator mccain said that's the least humane thing we can do is to encourage parents and relatives in these countries to send their children or put them in the care of smugglers and others and if we wants to stem the tide here the way to stem the tide is to have parents and relatives in these countries saying these children come back to these countries like we do to children in mexico or canada who come across the border.

so i think the gentleman from arizona for arranging this colloquy and we have got to take action. >> if i may mr. president. the junior senator from texas visited lackland air force base recently and observe some of these 1200 if i'm not mistaken children who are being essentially warehouse because we don't have anyplace to put them and buy comment on what we are going to do if the numbers continue to grow at the level they are going now. i know 2011 there were 6000 unaccompanied minors obtained at the southwestern border. this year since october if somewhere in the 50,000 range and if that number continues to escalate where we going to put all these kids? >> i think my friend the senior senator from texas and i'm honored to stand here with the senior senator from texas and the senator from arizona as we

speak out together against the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding on our border. president obama today came to the state of texas but sadly he's not visiting the border. he's not visiting the children who are suffering as a result of the failures of the obama policies. instead he's doing fund-raisers. he's visiting democratic fat-cats to collect checks and apparently there is no time to look at the disaster and the devastation being caused by his policies. just a couple of weeks ago as the senior senator from texas observe i was at lackland air force base where they are roughly 1200 children being housed. and there's wanting president obama said about what's happening that is absolutely correct. this is a humanitarian disaster. but it is a disaster of the president's own making. it is a disaster that is the direct consequence of president obama's lawlessness. a quick review of the facts make that abundantly apparent. in 2011, just three years ago,

there were roughly 6000 unaccompanied children apprehended trying to cross illegally into this country. >> we will take you live to dallas to hear from president obama. >> governor. , officials and faith leaders to talk about the steps that we have taken and that we need to take to address the humanitarian situation on the border and i want to thank everybody who has been involved for taking the time to talk to me. it's important to recognize two things. first the surge of unaccompanied children and adults with children are writing that one sector of the border as the rio grande valley. second, the issue is not that people are invading our enforcement officials. the issue is that we are apprehending them in large numbers and we are working to make sure that we have sufficient facilities to detain housed and processed them appropriately while attending to

a unaccompanied children with the care, the compassion that they deserve while they are in our custody. while we intend to do the right thing by these children, their parents need to know that this is an incredibly dangerous situation and it is unlikely that their children will be able to stay. i have asked parents around central america not to put their children in harm's way in this fashion. right now there are more border patrol agency and surveillance resources on the ground than at any time in our history and we deport almost 400,000 migrants each year. but as soon as it became clear that this year's migration at the border was different than past years i directed fema to coordinate a response at the border. members of my cabinet and my staff have made multiple trips to the facilities there and we

are also addressing the root of the problem. vice president biden secretary kerry and secretary johnson met with central american leaders as well as working with our international partners to go after smugglers who are putting the kids lives at risk. earlier this week mexico announced a series of steps that they are going to take on their southern border to help stem the tide of the sun accompany children. last week i sent a letter to congress asking them to increase penalties on smugglers and to give us flexibility to move migrants through the system faster. yesterday i asked congress to fund these efforts read about half of the resources would go to border security, enforcement and expedited removal of people who don't qualify for a humanitarian claim. about half would go to make sure we are treating children humanely. we would also make investments

to further tackle the real problems in central america. so, right now congress has the capacity to work with us, work with state officials, local officials and faith-based groups groups and not for prophets you are helping to care for these kids. congress has the capacity to work with all parties concerned to directly address this situation. they have said they want to see a solution. the supplemental offers them the capacity to vote immediately to get it done. of course in the long-run the best way to truly address this problem is for the house of representatives to pass legislation fixing our broken immigration system which by the way would include funding for additional thousands of border patrol agents, something that everybody here that i have talked to indicates is a

priority. the senate passed a commonsense bipartisan bill more than a year ago that would have strengthened the border, added an additional 20,000 border patrol agents. it would have strengthened our backlogged immigration force. it would have put us in a stronger position to deal with the surge and in fact prevent it. so let me just close by indicating the nature of a conversation that i had with governor. what i felt was constructed. governor perry suggested for specific areas of concern. he was concerned about how many patrol agents were directly at the border. he was concerned with some of the positions of border patrol agents as to park in the border to be effective in deterring folks from coming in as opposed to simply apprehending them. i indicated to him that what he said sounded like it made sense

and that in fact if we pass the supplemental we would have the resources to carry out some of the very things he is requesti requesting. on a broader policy level he indicated concerned that right now kids who come to the border from mexico are immediately deported but because its noncontiguous folks who are coming from central america have to go through a much lengthier process. i indicated to him that part of what we are looking at in the supplemental is some flexibility in terms of being able to preserve the due process rights of individuals who come in but also to make sure we are sending a strong signal that they can't simply show up at the border and automatically assume that they will be absorbed. he also expressed concerns about how the immigration judicial system works, how the ministry to process works, how long it takes on and the fact that oftentimes people appear are

then essentially released with a court date that might be six months out for nine months out and a sizable number not surprisingly to show up. i indicated to him that if we had more administrative judges, more administrative capacity we could shrink those wait times. this administrative practice predates my administration and in fact has been going on for quite some time and up a lot of it has to do with the fact that there is not a not -- enough capacity both in terms of detention facilities but also judges and attorneys space in order to process these things more quickly and expeditiously. so the bottom line is actually that there is nothing that the governor indicated he would like to see that i have a philosophical objection to. i have asked jay johnson to

contact his head of health and human services when it comes down for the sixth time at the end of this week to coordinate and make sure that some of the suggestions the governor has are technically feasible and what kind of resources might be needed. but i want to emphasize to the governor the problem here is not a major disagreement around the actions that could be helpful in dealing with the problem. the challenge is is congress prepared to act to put the resources in place to get this done? another way of putting it and i said this directly to the governor are folks more interested in politics or more registered in solving the problem? that they are interested in solving the problem then this can be solved. if the preferences for politics politics then it won't be solved. i urge the governor to talk to

the texas delegation which is obviously at the heart of the republican caucus both in the house and has great influence in the caucus in the senate. if the texan delegation is in favor of the supplemental which by the way does not include dealing with undocumented workers who let bin in this country for quite some time. this is just a very narrow issue in the supplemental in terms of dealing with a particular problem we have right now. the texas delegation is prepared to move this thing can get them next week. we could have more border patrol agents on the border as the governor has requested. we can shorten the time tables for processing these children or adults with children as the governor thinks is important. we can make sure that some of the public health issues that were raised in the meeting that i just had our addressed so that

we have got enough folks vaccinating and checking on the health status of these children to make sure that battle had a safe but also our communities are safe. the things that the governor thinks are important to do would be a lot easier to do if we had the supplemental that gives us the resources to do it. the only question at this point is, why wouldn't the texas delegation are any of the other republicans who are concerned about this would not want to put this on a fast-track and put this on my desk so i can sign it and the kids are getting to work. i suggested to the governor he has i suspect some influence over tele-- texas delegation to pass the supplemental right away. a final point i will make is that just want to thank some of the faith-based groups that i just met with as well as mayors, commissioners, local officials. dallas has been incredibly

compassionate and looking at some sites, some facilities in which they can accommodate some of these children and i indicated in hearing the stories of churches that are prepared to not just make donations to send volunteers to help to construct some of these facilities are fixed them up and their willingness to volunteer and provide care and assistance to these children. i told them thank you because it confirmed what i think we all know which is the american people are an incredibly compassionate people and when we see a child in need we want to care for them. but what i think we all agreed on is that the best thing that we can do is to make sure that the children are able to live in their own countries safely and that is why it's going to be important even as we solve a short-term problem here for us

to be able to direct attention and resources and assistance as we are doing but not at a sustained and high enough level in honduras and guatemala, el salvador and other places so that parents don't think that somehow it's safer for their children to send them thousands of miles just so that they don't get harmed. with that i will take a couple of questions. >> not just from republicans but senate democrats to visit the immigrants on the trip. can you explain why you did that in was it legitimate or were those more about politics than anything else? >> j. johnson is now visited at my direction the border five times. he is going for his sixth this week. he then comes back and reports

to me extensively on everything that is taking place. so there is nothing that is taking place down there that i am not intimately aware of and briefed on. this isn't theater. this is a problem. i'm not interested in photo ops. i'm interested in solving the problem and those who say i should visit the border when you ask them what should we be doi doing, they are giving us suggestions that are embodied in legislation that i have already sent to congress so it's not as if they are making suggestions that we are not listening to. in fact, the suggestions of those who work at the border who visited the border are not cooperating in -- congress needs

to pass the supplemental. there is a larger issue that i recognize involves a lot of politics which is why are we passing numbers of immigration reform? which would put additional 20,000 border patrol agents and give us a lot of additional authorities to deal with some of these problems. that should've been done a year ago. it should have been done two years ago. it has gotten caught up in politics and i understand that. one of the suggestions i had for governor perry was that it would be useful for my republican friends to rediscover the concept of negotiation and compromise. the governors one concern that he mentioned to me was that setting aside the supplemental i should go ahead and authorize and national guard troops to surge at the border right away.

what i told him is we are happy to consider how we could deploy the national guard down there but that's a temporary solution. that's not a permanent solution and so why wouldn't we go ahead and pass the permanent solution or at least a longer-term solution, and if the texas delegation said for us to pass the supplemental we want to include a commitment that you are going to send national guard early, i would be happy to consider it. so this should not be hard to at least get the supplemental done. the question is are we more interested in politics or are we more interested in solving the problem? if we are interested in solving the problem then there is actually some broad consensus around a number of the issues. there may be some controversies

and differences between democrats and republicans on some of the policy issues but on a whole bunch of the stuff there is broad consensus. let's just get that done. let's do the work. >> it sounds like you are concerned that the supplemental will fall victim to partisan politics. >> well i would think it's fair to say that the states and washington everyone's concerned about everything falling victim to partisan politics. if i sponsored a bill declaring apple pie american it might fall victim to partisan politics. i get that. on the other hand this is an issue in which my republican friends have said it's urgent that we need to fi fix it. if that's the case then let's go

ahead and fi fix it. as indicated to governor perry he suggested maybe you just need to go ahead enacts and that might convince republicans that they should go ahead and pass the supplemental. i had to remind him mind getting sued right now by mr. boehner apparently for going ahead and acting instead of going through congress. here's a good test case. this is something you say is important, as i do. this is an area that you have prioritized, as i have. don't wait for me to take executive action when you have the capacity right now to go ahead and get something done. i will sign a bill tomorrow. we are going to go ahead and do it can answer -- of ministry to please but this gives us the tools to do the very things that republicans are seeking. at the same time i will just repeat that if we got a comprehensive bill done, it

doesn't just solve this problem for a year. it solves it potentially for 20 years and i would urge those who so far at least have failed to act on the conference of bill to take another look at it. [inaudible] >> i didn't get any promises but it was a constructive conversation i want to emphasize that it was a good exchange of ideas and he did have some specific suggestions in terms of how we align border agents that i have asked jay johnson to take a look at because i think there may be ways in which we can use the resources that we are to have more effectively than we are currently doing. and i think it is important we make sure we have got a strong federal state collaboration on the issue. i'm going to take just two more questions. >> the governor put out a statement saying -- he to secure

the border. does that statement indicates he's interested in a compromise? >> i'm interested in securing the border so as i explained as far as i could tell the only disagreement i had with governor perry is that he wanted me to go ahead and do it without congress having to do anything. we will do a we can administratively. i think the useful question not simply for the governor but for john boehner and mitch mcconnell and the other members of texas delegation is why won't you go ahead and pass the bill to give us additional resources to solve the problem. >> there've been a number of republicans who have said they action executive order from 2012 that you signed is to blame that it was a limitation that these other children are now taking up on. what do you say to that? >> if you look at the pattern of immigration into our country, we

are at actually a significantly lower level in terms of overall immigration flow, illegal immigration flow than we were when i took office. i think that the challenge we have that has really caused a spike is this significant security challenges in the central american countries themselves and the fact that you have got smugglers who are increasingly recognizing that they can make money by transporting these folks often in very dangerous circumstances to the border and taking advantage of the compassion of the american people. recognizing that we are not going to simply leave abandoned children who are left at our doorstep that we have to care for them and provide them some

basic safety and security while we determine where we can send them. but, i think one of the most important things that we are going to have had to recognize, this is not going to be a short-term problem. this is a long-term problem. we have countries that are pretty close to us in which the life chances of children are just far far worse than they are here and parents who are frightened or are misinformed about what's possible are willing to take extraordinary risks on behalf of their kids. the more that we can do to help these countries get their acts together, then the less likely we are to have a problem at the borders and the fact of the

matter is that dr. anne -- doc and comprehensive reform generally would allow us to reallocate resources precisely because all the budget of dhs instead of us chasing after families that may have been living there for five or 10 years and have kids who are u.s. citizens who are law-abiding coming here legally if they have to earn citizenship paying taxes, learning english, paying a fine, going to the back of the line but they are no longer an enforcement priority that certainly frees up a huge amount of resources to do exactly the kinds of things that republicans want us to do and that we have tried to do with them and resource limitations that we

have. all right? thank you everybody. appreciate it. tomorrow the senate appropriations committee will hear from homeland security secretary jay johnson and also from the health and human services secretary sylvia burwell about that request and about the issue the unaccompanied children at the u.s.-mexico border. live coverage of that at 2:30 eastern on c-span3 and you can also follow that on line at c-span.org. earlier today before the president spoke to her from texas senators in texas senators and mayors on the senators on the senate floor about the situation at the border. >> today in the state of texas sadly he is not visiting the border. he is not visiting the children

who are suffering as a result of the failures of the obama policies. instead, he is doing fund-raisers. he is visiting democratic fat-cats to collect checks and apparently there is no time to look at the disaster and the devastation being caused by his policies. just a couple of weeks ago as the senior senator from texas observed i was down at lackland air force base where they are roughly 1200 children being housed. there's one thing president obama said about what's happening that is absolute correct. this is a humanitarian disaster. but it is a disaster of a presence on making. it is a disaster that is the direct consequence of president obama's lawlessness. a quick review of the facts makes that abundantly apparent. in 2000 love in just three years ago, there were roughly 6000 unaccompanied children apprehended trying to cross

illegally into this country. then in 2012 in the summer of 2012 write to for the election president obama illegally granted amnesty to some 800,000 people who were here illegally who entered the country as children. the direct predictable foreseeable consequence of granting that amnesty is the number of children unaccompanied children, immediately began to skyrocket. this year the estimates are that 90,000 unaccompanied children will enter this come -- country illegally. that's up from 6000 just three years ago. 6000 to 90,000 next year the estimate is 145,000. and this explosion is the direct consequence of the president's lawlessness. it's worth underscoring, the people who are being hurt the most are these kids. the coyotes who are bringing them in. these are not well-meaning social worker trying to help out

some kids. these are violent, hardened transnational criminal cartel. these mothers and fathers sadly are handing over their children to violent criminals who are physically abusing, sexually abusing small children. when i was down at lackland air force base a senior official there described to me how these cartels with some of these children, after they have taken them and after they have begun coming to this country to take them here illegally, that they would hold these children captive, hold them hostage to extract additional money from the families. and if the families didn't send them additional money as horrifying as it is, these drug cartels would begin severing body parts of these children. i listen to the senior official at lackland described how the

cartels would put a gun to the back of the head of the little boy or a little girl and forced that child to cut off the fingers are the ears of another little boy or little girl. and if they don't do so they will shoot them and move to the next one. and so on are and we are having children come to this country that we are having to deal with who are number one maimed by the brutality of these criminal cartels. others of them have deep deep psychological trauma of a child forced to do something so perfect. this is a tragedy that is playing out in its playing out in real time. now the administration is suggesting the cause of this is beilinson central america. i would suggest to my friend the senior senator from texas and the senator from arizona that

that argument is a complete red airing. violence in one country, you would expect to see the number of immigrants from that country go up but there's no reason a unaccompanied children would go up. that is something unique and distinct raid their bodies in countries across the world sadly that have been plagued by violence and when that happens we have always seen an influx of immigrants both legal and illegal from those countries. what we are seeing now is particularly -- particular eyes towards children and their reason is particularized towards children is because the president granted amnesty and a way that was particularized towards children. and if you want to understand just how false the administration's talking point is for the top that's happening you need look no further than a report that was prepared by our border security that senator cornyn and senator flake all saw

the senate judiciary committee. a couple of weeks ago at a hearing on the cement during crisis and a whistleblower at the border patrol handed over this confidential document to a number of on the judiciary. he described how the border interview 200 people who came here legally adults and children asked him a simple question, why did you come? 95% said we came because we believe if we get here we will get amnesty. we believe we will get once a child gets here that little boy in that little girl are scot-free. i would suggest to my friends this is what amnesty looks like. amnesty looks like dangerous drug cartels entering this country wantonly. amnesty looks like thousands of young children being housed at

military bases. amnesty looks like hundreds of immigrants who came here illegally transported into cities and towns amid opposition from the citizens who live there. amnesty looks like a complete district of our rule of law. amnesty is unfolding before our very eyes and i would suggest he only response that will stop this humanitarian disaster is for president obama to start enforcing the law, to stop promising amnesty to stop refusing to enforce federal and the gration law and finally to secure the borders and indeed i would call upon our colleagues in this body in both parties to come together and secure the border once and for all and to stop holding border security hostage for amnesty. >> senator matt asked the

question really to all three? i think he described the catastrophe that continues to unfold and indeed grow but i know speaking for myself and i met for all four of us we are actually interested in trying to solve this problem and the president sent over an appropriation request that is essentially a blank check. the senior senator from arizona prep league knowledge of the majority of the monies for health and human services to continue to warehouse these children with no solution. the senior senator from arizona said that we need to change that 2008 law and i agree with that. we need to make sure the children are detained and then get whatever process they are entitled to, perhaps before an immigration judge. that's something we should talk about before they are repatriated but i want to just ask the senior senator from arizona because as his long

distinguished service on the committee i was troubled to hear some of the testimony that general kelly that of southern command that is the combatant commander for the world south of the texas border, mexico and central and south america or i guess northern command. what he said as they specifically want 75% of the cartel activity involving illegal drugs and they simply don't have the assets to do anything about it. ask him if you think trying to figure out how to adequately funded resource southern command how to get our united states military to perhaps work more closely with the central american military forces and the mexican military forces, is that part of the solution to this problem? >> i would say to my colleague esn also the commander of southern command believes that there is an increasing inflow of

people entering our country illegally who are not from mexico or central america. they are from other countries around the world and there is a real and imminent threat of people coming to the united states of america and not just to get a job in a better life but to commit acts of terror. we are seeing increasing numbers. i would say to my friend from texas, it's my understanding and tell me if i'm correct that there are now 82% of the country coming across the border in illegal oil -- and illegally are other than mexican. china india africa all over the world they are coming. >> i would say the senator had been in burks county and tell serious texas to see some of the rescue beacons they have with some of the language written in chinese. this is in burks county near texas where he guaranteed nobody lives there speaks chinese are not many people.

so his point is well taken. out of the 414,000 people detained coming across the southwestern border last year, they came from 100 different countries. most of them were mexico and central america but the senator is exactly right, we have have seen a huge -- huge influx from central america and mexico must primary source today. >> i just mention as we all know certainly like my friend from arizona we have a proposal that came over from the present of the united states. we spent some $3.7 billion. now i think all of us are finding a way to pay for it but agree with measures that need to be taken such as beefing up our consulate and embassy capabilities, such as increasing number of refugee visas for citizens of el salvador honduras and guatemala by 5000 next year. do what's necessary to try to

address this from a humanitarian standpoint that the present of the united states failed to even though he had stated with a proposal that came over its not a request for a prevention act. in other words we could be an unending funding for treatment of people who came illegally unless we address the fundamental problem that's driving it. so isn't it true that and i would ask that my friend from arizona and by the way could i also point out that the legislation that he and i were part part of and spend hundreds if not thousands of hours on-call for 90% effective control of the border and 100% situational awareness. some $8 billion being spent. was amended on the floor for an additional 20,000 border patrol that a fundamental element of immigration reform as we proposed it was to get 90%

effective control of the border and in addition to that, that we would would have that funding come out of fees that people would pay as they moved on the path to citizenship. >> i thank the gentleman for making that point. with regard to legislation we propose to truly put border security first and i continue to hope that the house will take that up but one of the point that has been made is we have got to stem this humanitarian crisis in a way that will actually solve the problem and that will be solved when parents and relatives in these countries realize that sending their children unaccompanied minors is futile, but they will spend a lot of money and it won't work. there is a good example of how we can give effect to this from just a couple of years ago. in 2005 the country of mexico allowed brazilians to comment on the visa waiver type program and

what happened is a lot of brazilian nationals came through mexico and use it as a conduit to come into this country. so we have a huge number of so-called otm's or other than mexicans coming up being brazilians and we were doing what can best be described as catch and release where we would just take them back across the border and let them go. that wasn't solving the problem. and so we decided the bush administration decided we needed to solve this problem in a way to solve it is to actually detain these individuals then send them home to brazil. we did that. there was an operation called texus hold 'em and after that operation within 30 days, within 30 days the number of brazilians coming through mexico into this country dropped by 50% within 30 days. within 60 days, within 60 days that number dropped by 90%. so we can do this but it needs

to involve us changing the law with regard to trafficking to allow us to treat children in honduras, guatemala and el salvador at the same way we treat children who come from mexico or from canada and allow us to repatriate and to take these children back. once that happens, let me actually do that then will have a chance to stem this tide. it's the best thing we can do on a humanitarian basis as well is to not have these children subject to the cartels and human smugglers that are preying on them right now. >> mr. president i would ask the junior senator from texas surely the president understands the facts as we have laid them out here on the 2008 law, really the flaw in that law. they have created a business model out of it because they realized these immigrants to come across will not be detain

detained. the children or many adults, women traveling with minor children because they are not adequate detention facility so i wonder if the senator has an opinion why is the president surrounded as he is by some pretty smart policy people, people like secretary jay johnson the secretary of homeland security who i have had conversations with about this very topic, why is it that, why is it that the president hasn't sent over requests to fix the problem as opposed to continuing to warehouse people? >> the senior senator from texas is exactly right that the president has effectively admitted that he has no intention of stopping this problem. the supplemental request that he has submitted, $3.7 billion the majority of that goes to hhs and social services providing care to these kids, to these kids

rather than stopping in solving the problem. you know you and i have spent a lot of time down on the border of texas and all four of us have spent time on the border of texas or arizona. a consistent answer from local law enforcement and local elected officials about what is effective in securing the border that could most consistent is boots on the ground if you want to secure the border puts boots on the ground particular combined with technology. it's striking out $3.7 billion a tiny percentage of that is drafted towards boots on the ground. this is an hhs social social services bill and its unfortunate pattern we have seen the obama administration of bait and switch. they are calling this a border security matter. it is reminiscent of the 2009 stimulus which we will all recall was sold citi and people, the 2009 stimulus was about building roads and if the structure and shovel-ready projects all of which are good

ideas and then with over a hundred billion dollars spent by the at the obama administration. a little of it went to rose or a structure or shovel-ready projects. instead it paid off liberal interest groups like acorn paid in this case the cause cost of $3.7 billion border security and yet almost none of the money goes to border security and indeed i would note for all of the democrats who are seeing this humanitarian crisis unfold who are discovering suddenly the need for both border security and i would help my friend the senior senator from new york stood on the floor at as we were debating immigration. he said the border is secure today. president obama stood in el paso in 2000 tenants of the border secure today. i would note for everyone who says now they are focused on border security that when the senate judiciary committee was considering immigration reform i

introduce an amendment which the senior citizen from texas supported that would have tripled our border patrol and increased fourfold the fixed-wing assets, the technology that would have provided the tools to finally solve this problem and every single senate democrat on the judiciary committee voted against it. we shouldn't be surprised that the president's proposal that is labeled border security doesn't actually secure the border, doesn't do anything about the lawlessness or the amnesty which means that the obama administration is effectively admitting that they expect these children to continue coming, hundreds of thousands of them in years to come. hundreds of thousands of little boys and little girls being subjected to her thick physical abuse, sexual abuse and they intend to do nothing to fix the problem and to stop it to secure the border to uphold the law.

that's heartbreaking and not the responsibility of a commander-in-chief. >> i asked the senior senator from arizona a well-known national security expert but also knows a little bit about this big world we live in, what is it that we can do with some of the money that we are currently slaving to go to countries like honduras and guatemala and even mexico? i know a starkly we have had a successful partnership for example with the colombian government to help them build their capacity under plan colombia. admittedly that's a different scenario. in mexico we have the merit initiative we train and provide equipment to help build their police and law enforcement capability. are there things that we ought to try to tie the money that goes to these countries right now that would be productive programs have helped solve the problem? >> absolutely and i think as we mentioned earlier we gave up our

consulate capabilities to hear these cases in the country of error didn't particularly central america is really very important that i would also like to point out that there's an article entitled deportation data won't dispel rumors drawing migrant miners to united states. a very interesting, these organized crime groups in central america have exploited the slow u.s. legal process and organize these children apparent crisis according to dave leopold and immigration attorney and we went. they may charge a family up to $12,000 to deliver a child to the border often telling them exactly what to say to american officials. quote the cartels have figured out where the hole is unquote he said. it now stands at 2008 law guarantees on accompanied minors

though those countries access to federal asylum officer and a chance to tell u.s. judge that they were victims of a crime or face abuse or sexual trafficking if they're sent home. if the claim is deemed credible judges may grant a waiver for immediate deportation. quote word-of-mouth gets back and now people are calling them saying quote this is what i said in court so as senior law enforcement official who is not authorized to speak on the record and he says quote whether it is true or not, the perception is that they are successfully entering the united states. that is what is driving up and the numbers are staggering as we have pointed out. the present himself spoke in the rose garden last week saying he was quote sending a clear message to parents in central america not to send their children are at in hopes of being allowed into america and he said the journey is

unbelievably dangerous for these kids. obama said the children who are fortunate enough to survive it will be taken care of while they go through the legal processes but in most cases that process will lead to them being sent home. unfortunately this statement is not backed up by the actual numbers. we are talking about one tenth of these children are actually being sent back as they are being coached by these coyotes who are giving them the story to tell. i want to emphasize on the part of all of us on the side of the aisle and every american that we represent we have compassion for these people. we care about a humanitarian crisis. we care about these children. it's not a matter of fortress america. we are all for illegal -- illegal immigration from every part of the world so we will be portrayed as those who want to

stop these poor children from being able to come to our country. it's not that. we are trying to stop the abuse and human abuses of the terrible things that are being perpetrated on these children under the false pretenses or should be false pretenses but now not so false that they can come to this country and stay. >> i would ask the senior senator i think edvac really describe how the hog cartels have figured out how to game the system and indeed all the advertising we do in central america saying don't come as long as the junior senator from arizona indicated they get a call and said i made it and the cartels realized for every migrant child that they shuttle through the smuggling corridors is going to be another $5000 in the bank. there's every incentive to continue but i want to ask the senior senator perhaps or our other colleagues the president has said he has a pen and he has

a fond and he's going to do things without congress. he said that because he is frustrated and i know we have all experienced a level of frustration during immigration debates from time to time and over the years but he said he's going to consider issuing another order relative to deportation policy which strikes me as doubling down on this message that he's not going to enforce the law, he's going to try to circumvent the law and basically welcome more people here outside of legal avenues. i would ask my colleagues, doesn't that make things worse, not better? >> the aspect of this that makes things worse of course is the president and on the one hand agrees with us that they can't stay and many times i have quoted them here but in the same kind the same time the proposal became over over the

$3.7 billion has nothing that would do any objective observer would indicate that this would dispel the incentive and the magnet that is creating this flood of young people who obviously we have talked about their trip. i would ask my friend from arizona. >> thank you and i have to run to a hearing in a second but i want to say yes the press and i frankly myself and senator mccain, senator -- on the other side of the aisle and many here signed a bill asking the president make a clear statement that children coming out will be deported. he did so-and-so the secretary of homeland security. our state department has relayed that message. but you can say that until you are blue in the face but if the reality is that unaccompanied minors to get here are then

placed with guardians or families around the country and reappropriate $1.8 billion to do so than the message that is sent is exactly opposite of what the president is saying so i think that is what we are all here today to say, is we have to not just say the right thing. we have to do the right thing and the right thing here is to change the law that allows the loophole for people to stay here indefinitely and send a message by actually sending children as we do with on accompanied minors from mexico and canada back because that will send the message clear than anything, any words we can say to those tightknit communities to hear word-of-mouth and nobody can tell you is going to pay another 5000 or 6000 or 7000 to send a child to that dangerous condition to the border and say you will be returned home. >> could i just finally add, this proposal for $3.8 billion i

can only speak for myself but unless there are provisions in that legislation which would bring an end to this humanitarian crisis, and i cannot support it. i cannot vote for a provision which will perpetuate an unacceptable human crisis, humanitarian crisis that is taking place on our southern border. i don't know my colleague would agree. >> well i would note that the confirmation that the message of amnesty has been received by the parents who are entrusting the children to these drug dealers is the border patrol report that said 95% of those coming believed they would get a perm he so. they would believe that they would go scott free. it's why these children are being subjected to violence. lackland air force base a senior official there described one child, that a young hispanic child who is a quadriplegic who was paralyzed from the neck

down. the drug cartels abandoned him on the texas side of the rio grande. they found him lying by the river on the other side of the river. that's a sort of care and consideration they are providing for these children. these children, what is happening to these children is terrific and we are compassionate nation. we have eyes and a compassionate nation that any policy that continues children being abused by violent drug cartels is the opposite of compassion. so i would ask two questions to my friend the senior senator from arizona. the first, i had this afternoon lunch with the attorney general of texas greg abbott who described the attorney general of texas and the u.s. attorney's office have recently arrested an alleged terrorist in texas with ties to isis, with ties to the radical islamic terrorists who are right now wreaking havoc across iraq and syria. so the first question i would

ask the senior senator from arizona is how significant does he see the threat of terrorist crossing our porous border and targeting the homeland and the second question i would ask is related. of the $3.7 billion a present upon as requested in the supplemental bill, just 160 million is directed to border patrol agents and immigration judges both. so less than 5% of the total actually goes to boots on the ground. the second question i would ask the senior senator from arizona is in his judgment is devoting less than 5% of the resources from this bill to boots on the ground a serious effort at securing the border in solving the problem? >> i would say to my colleague in answer to the second question is obviously now and it's my understanding if you break this down, this legislation into individual illegal immigrants is

like an $80,000 per individual, a remarkable sum. i would be glad to be corrected for the record if that's not true but concerning the senator's first question about a month ago for the first time in syria an american citizen blew himself up as a suicide bomber in syria. there are now thousands and thousands of europeans. we believe there are as many as 100 in the united states although that number varies of citizens that are over fighting in syria on behalf of the most radical terrorist organization, isis and many hundred of europeans that are fighting their have to guess what, as european citizens of these countries in europe, they have a visa. they can get on a plane tomorrow. they can get to a european

country and get on a plane tomorrow and fly to the united states of america because they are a citizen of one of the european countries which we have a visa free agreement on. our director of national intelligence and the secretary of homeland security and the director of the federal bureau of investigation have all said unequivocally that the offense better transpiring now in the largest most wealthy, most influential and largest center for terrorism between syria and iraq is breeding these people who have said they want to attack the united states of america. the leader of isis who apparently was on television preaching at a mosque in mosul the other day despite the fact that there's $10 million on his head said when he left the

prison camp in iraq his last words were see you in new york. >> you in new york. and i don't think he was joking. and so this also is clearly a national security issue over time as well i would say to my friend from texas. >> i rise today to speak about the humanitarian situation on our southern border. over the last year we have seen a flood of unaccompanied children come from central american countries such as el salvador, honduras and guatemala. that the number of children has more than doubled in the past year to nearly 60,000. this is a humanitarian crisis and it is heartbreaking. sadly there are some who believe they have found a simple solution to this problem, that we can somehow just to round up these young children and send them back on a plane where they came from immediately.

i disagree. the united states has always been a leader in providing aid and assistance to those in danger and in need. these are values our country and congress have overwhelmingly endorsed. in fact the current procedures for dealing with children from these countries were set in a 2008 law. the law was signed by president bush and unanimously passed by both the house and senate. these procedures are in place because our values as a nation dictate that we do what we can to protect children from violence and trafficking. it saddens me that there are some who have called for changing this underlying protective law. presumably so that we can just shift these children back to where they came from without the due process protections that this law affords. of the thousands of children showing up at our doorstep, many

of whom were at risk in the hands of criminal smugglers during their trip, 40% of them are young girls. many are under the age of 12 and have been sent on their own without the protection of their parents or other family. these children aren't coming here because of president obama or democrats or republicans. they are coming to our border because of the terrible violence conditions that they face in their home countries. in fact there is a direct correlation between growing violence in these countries and the increasing waves of children coming to the united states. for example amhert kurgman situations which amount to forced conscription like we saw with the child soldiers and other countries. they are subjected to sexual violence and brutality. it's hard for someone from our

country to imagine just how severe this violence is the data from the united nations offers some perspective. the u.n. estimates that the murder rate in honduras in and 2012 was 30% higher than u.s. u.n. it estimates of the civilian casualty rate at the height, at the height of the iraq war. that is a staggering level of violence for any nation to endure. we all agree that the current situation is unsustainable and it needs to be addressed by simply sending children out into harm's way is not the answer. we should be working together to address the root causes that are pushing these children to make these dangerous journeys. .. t this

crisis requires action on several fronts. first, we should continue to crack down on human smuggling and criminal activity in concert with the children's home countries. second, we have to honor our domestic and legal requirements related to the treatment of children, refugees and asylum seekers. this means supporting the administration's efforts to provide humane treatment to these children. third, we have to redouble our efforts to support peace, economic growth and social development in central america. i look forward to discussing more of the details of our plan with any of my colleagues who want to work together constructively to solve this problem. only by focusing on addressing the root cause of this crisis can we truly address it. the president has been managing a coordinated response to handle this very difficult, heartbreaking situation.