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 disas

that was from the senior official at lackland. by the way, one of the things we hear reports of is these families with the girls, before they send them up, they give them border birth control becaue expectations are that the risks of sexual assault and rape are so high, and that risk is being undertaken because of the promise of amnesty. when i was down at mcallen this weekend, i asked the line agents, i said listen, you guys every day, you're on the river, you're in the helicopter, you're securing the border. why are they coming? what's changed? just three years ago, it was 6,000 kids. now it's 90,000. what has changed? every single one of the border patrol agents gave the exact same answer. they said they're coming because they believe they will get amnesty. it's important to understand, by the way, the coyotes smuggle them across the border, and as soon as they get across the border, they actively look for the border patrol. they're not being captured. they're not being caught. they go look for someone in uniform, and they may

---las bases militares son: fort sill , la base area de san antonio- lackland y la naval de ventura county---un hombre de 25 aÑos murio anoche al sur de la market en san francisco... take map ---el tiroteo se reporto a eso de las 11 de la noche entre las calles sexta y mision... ---el hombre fue llevado al hopsital pero no sobrevivio a las heridas... ---la policia no ha efectuado arrestos hasta el momento. cesar ---trece pandilleros fueron arrestados en oakland y acusados de crimenes violentos, incluyendo intento de homicidio, robo a viviendas y automoviles. take vo --un grupo especializado de la policia de esa ciudad realiz las investigaciones que condujeron a los arrestos de los sujetos cuyas edades oscilan entre los 15 y 20 aÑos... --la cantidad de acusaciones podrian acumular penas severas para los pandilleros cesar ---cientos de personas recibieron la orden de refugiarse por una hora en un lugar seguro del este de san jose luego que un grupo de trabajadores de la construccion rompiera una tuberia de gas... take vo ---el incidente ocurrio esta maÑana a eso de las 9 con 25 al sur de la

the children we serve at lackland are fleeing unspeakable violence.the vast majority are from honduras, el salvador and guatemala. are integers can from that many of these children are victims of sexual assault, trafficking, domestic abuse, gang intimidation, persecution and torture. ricels staff and volunteers have met with girls as young as 12 years old who fled criminal gangs attending to force them into sexual exploitation. the phenomenon occurring in these countries can be described as a war on children. where local gangs target boys and girls as young as eight or nine to transport drugs, coerce them to join through death threats, and force them into participating in the new normalized criminal activity that is rampant and widespread. the children and their families that have faced such violence in difficult conditions have made a conscious decision to seek refuge in the united states because they fear their very lives are at stake. at this moment in my testimony i would like to share with you the experience that was shared with me of a young boy

human tragedy of children who have made a long trek from central america to lackland air force base. the reports are as many as 1/3 of the children, talking about the female children, as many as 1/3 have been raped or abused on the way to the united states. there are reports of leasing children. the thought is in central america that if you come with a child, you're more likely to be able to stay. so they are leasing children. >> i want to ask you about the girls who have been assaulted. they've been assaulted on their way, assaulted at these american facilities? where are you talking about? what evidence do you have? that's a very strong charge. >> it is. these are reports that have come from lackland air force base, both border patrol and other officials down there. it was representative henry quillar from texas. this is not a partisan issue. this is a human suffering issue. we need to understand what are the policies that resulted in this? as far as when these atrocities took place, they actually took place on the way to the united states. the problem here is we have an insecure b

a third of the girls down at lackland, according to border patrol, they have said a third of them have been raped. human trafficking, we're talking about adults leasing children because nebthey believe they'll more likely to be able to stay in the united states if they lease children. these are human tragedies. >> who do you blame for these tragedies? anybody in particular? >> certainly i do. the president of the united states keeps saying that congress must act. i want to be really clear. congress has acted, the president refuses to enforce the law. the thing that is humanitarian here is to secure the southern border. and the president, going on a tour, explaining that if you come to the united states of america, you're going to be able to stay, which is what people in central america believe, that creates the problem here. you have an open border and the president telling people if they come, they can stay. interestingly, these aren't my reports, these are reports from officials down in central america, honduras, el salvador. i want to also be clear here. the president will tell you

jen -- on june 30 where they took a tour of the facilities and participated in discussion at the lackland shelter on lessons learned, challenges, best practices for detaining these individuals. the cep commissioner earlier this week traveled to mcallen, where he participated in a news conference and delivered a message to families in central america that are sending their children -- putting their children in the hands of some of the criminal networks that have sprouted up to transport children to the southwest border is not a good idea. the point in reviewing all of that is to make clear to you and your readers that senior officials in the ministration have spent a lot of time at the border. because the president and others on his team are concerned about what is happening there, but also making sure they have clear, up-to-date assessment of what exactly is happening on a regular basis there. and how the additional resources that have an devoted to that region are dealing with this surge in illegal migration we have seen. in terms of the president's trip to texas, the president is going

---las bases militares son: fort sill, en oklahoma; la base area de san antonio- lackland en texas, yra county en california... topvo cesar ---guatemala, honduras y el salvador presentaran una posicion para enfrentar la crisis humanitaria de niÑos migrantes en estados unidos... ---el canciller salvadoreÑo dijo que pediran que a los niÑos los asistan legalmente, luego una propuesta de desarrollo economico en la zona de donde provienen los menores y con esto mejorar la educacion... ---mientras que el embajador salvadoreÑo ante las naciones unidas, continuo hoy en washington su ronda de visitas a legisladores para explicar este fenomeno migratorio... ---el viernes el presidente obama se reunira con los presidentes centroamerican os para hablar sobre la crisis. cesar/take vo --y escuche usted esta alarmante cifra... mexico ocupa el primer lugar en difusion de pornografia y explotacion infantil ... --lo mas preocupante es que esta cifra va en aumento... --hasta la fecha ya se han detectado mas de 12 mil cuentas de internet en las que distribuyen fotos y videos que exhiben a ninos explotado

health and human services so that they can continue to maintain shelters, capacity at places like lackland air force base. at lakeland, i was given hope. i saw children being educated, being taught english, praying if they chose to, and learning the pledge of allegiance. i saw a place that equity inned our values a cannes. this is why i strongly oppose altering the protections of the 2008 trafficking victims protection reauthorization afnlgact.the answer is not expeg screenings and deporting these children as soon as possible at the border. all this will accomplish is to send these children back into harm's way. indeed, into the murder capitals of the world. even more quickly. i have actually seen what these expedited screenings look like. during our trip we saw small children sitting on concrete blocks in a noisy and overwhelming c.v.p. facility. in this environment these children struggle to answer questions from union uniformed border protection officers. let me be clear, that officer was doing the best he could. but children arriving here after a dangerous journey are in no position to

shelters have been established like the one at lackland air force base in san antonio. we've all seen the photos of hundreds of children piled on top of each other and the flow shows no signs of abating. every member of this committee, including myself, is gravely concerned about the safety of children no matter where they come from. since october, 52,000 -- 52,000 -- unaccompanied minors have crossed into the united states from mexico. nearly two-thirds of those cross through receithe rio grande valn texas. cvp estimates that next year, more than 150,000 unaccompanied children may attempt to cross our borders. this is a crisis. it's a crisis that's been in the making for years, one that we should have seen coming. but few concrete actions have been taken. the department of homeland security and the united states government as a whole has been slow to act, turning a blind eye to the warning signs. the fact is these children are making a dangerous journey based on misinformation and the false promise of amnesty. the first step is for the administration to acknowledge the

now, i went up to lackland air force base. now, the children are being cared for in unused dormitories that once housed our air force. we have new facilities pour our enlisted personnel. but do you know that we pay for that, that the department of health and human services has to pay the department of defense to house those children and because it's on a military base, with all the rules and regs associated with that, it is the most expensive housing we can have, but it is the best housing that we have, and right now because of this rejectionist fear that is being promulgated through our country like somehow or other these children pose a danger to us, it is the best we can do. and i will tell you it's a very nice facility. and i saw it being operated by a faith-based organization, the baptist conference. hats off to them. i speak now as a social worker, a professionally trained social worker. it was one of the most outstanding child welfare service organizations i'd seen from the nurses to the social workers to those who were

this camp is in san antonio, lackland air force base.bout 7,000 kids go through this camp. and now i've had workers at this facility break their confidentiality agreements and tell me what's actually happening there. they are very concerned about the diseases that are there, that the children have, and the fact that at least their allegation to me is that the federal government is covering this up and they're not actually being honest about the extent of the illnesses there. >> what you just said was extraordinary there about the middle of that paragraph was they broke their confidentiality agreement with the federal government. you would think a if they were assisting the federal government, the federal government would be forthcoming with details about the condition of these kids. but they don't want anybody knowing a lot of these kids unfortunately are very, very ill. >> they certainly are. as a matter of fact, the workers tell me they were told that if anyone dared speak out about the conditions, what's happening inside these camps,

the bi-partisan group is expected to visit the border patrol's station in mcallen and lackland air force base from which many of the children are flown to other stations for processing. gutierrez is a member of the house hispanic caucus and has been a vocal champion for immigration reform. governor quinn signed a new law allowing more school workers to administer emergency injections to someone having a life- threatening allergic reaction. trained school employees and volunteers will now be allowed to give epinephrine injections to students or visitors. previously, only nurses could do it. but, not all schools have them. illinois attorney general lisa madigan, who pushed for the law, says at least 25-percent of first-time allergic reactions occur in schools. >> we strongly in courage not just teachers and administrators, but other volunteers and parents to learn how to do this because it's something we want people to know how to do in school. >>the new law also allows students to carry and administer their own epinephrine injections, with parental consent. the c-d-c says one in 25 childr

report in foxnews.com bid to starns who documents many of these children in a facility in texas lacklandorce base. have measles, scabies, lies, tremendous amounts of them. they are being bused and airplaned to various locations. those kind of things remain in airplanes. it's a virtual pee tree dish it would seem to me for the spread of some of these diseases. >> yeah. which sort of compounds the tragedy. i think there are reasons that we are seeing this influx and reasons that we're seeing it now. just a couple years ago we had 14,000 child my -- migrants come to the united states. there is projections as high as 130,000 for next year. no question we are seeing a a surge. i think the reasons are basically two fold one as charles mentioned the president's policies. there has been open door policy by the president 'of the united states. also a sense that that policy is going to change. that there will be, whatever kind of reform comes out of congress, comes out of the administration, comes out of compromise after the election. there will be change and there will be some tightening of the b

number two, when what is with the first lady of honduras at lackland air force base, we started talking to the young kids and we asked them, because they are young girls. they are young 10, 11, 12, 13-year-old girls and boys. we asked about the young girls. health and human services told us 1/3 get raped coming up here. what people don't talk about is, think about the ones that never made it across. think about the ones that the drug cartels and smugglers decided to keep down there in mexico. it's a very tragic, very difficult situation for this young kids coming across. >> a heartbreaking situation that needs action immediately. democratic congressman henry cuellar of texas, thank you so much. >> governor rick perry who ran unsuccessfully to unseat president obama in 2012 will meet with the president after a back and forth over invery itation etiquette, deserving of a miss manners column. hint. i want to bring in dana bastion. they will meet tomorr . >> it looks like the meeting between a president and border state governor whose state is in crisis. you don't have to dig deep to see a

they were housed in one of two military bases, fort sill in oklahoma and lackland military base in san antonio where according to health and human services about 4,000 children have passed through since this immigration crisis began. the fbi is not calling this a security breach. however, it is obvious that scammers had access to very private information. they knew who these kids were, who the sponsors would be, travel plans, immediate case stat status. both of these shelters are operated by a contractor, baptist children and family services. it's a nonprofit child placement agency. a spokesperson referred us to health and human services who gave us a written statement saying the well-being and safety of these children is our top priority, and we take any reports of fraud very seriously. no direct payments to shelters will ever be requested during the reunification process. we are told by the fbi now that the push is to be proactive. these government case managers now reaching out to sponsors and tells them that not to expect to pay a penny to see their child again. >> sounds like an i

you know, several weeks ago i was at lackland air force base where there are roughly 1200 of these childreneing kept. and it's important to understand these little boys, these little girls, are being brought into this country not by well-meaning social workers with birkenstocks and beards. they're being brought in by violent, vicious drug cartels. and these little boys and little girls are being physically assaulted, being sexually assaulted. and it's really sad to see president obama and the democrats unwilling to do anything to solve this crisis. you look at the president's proposed supplemental. it's a very cynical bill because it's all hhs social spending with nothing to solve the problem. which means the president is assuming next year tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of little boys continue to be brought in by drug dealers and cartels, continue to be physically sexually assaulted, that is not compassionate. that is not humane. the compassionate humane thing to do is enforce the law and stop president obama's amnesty that's the direct cause of all these little girls. >> they

>> through grantees that are on the facilities in fort sill and the facilities in lackland. these are often religious organizations that do child welfare services. they are licensed services that enter into grant agreements and agree to provide the care. >> well, what i'd like, madam chair, is again, not pie in the sky, like i said, when you look at it logically there's no way we can adjudicate these people. i'm very concerned about that. i'm also very concerned about how they're being housed and i hope it's not pie in the sky because when you're talking about keeping people for a long time it sounds like we possibly are going to be keeping people for a long time as far as the education process, the health care process. it's got to get worked out and i've got to see it on paper so that we truly can provide the money that it's going to take, but again, the biggest thing is, the biggest deterrent is making such that they realize if they come to this country, they're going to go back. >> i would, madam chair, if i might clarify, that the children that are in our care in 2011 as

we are now in our fifth week working inside of lackland. so we're meeting these children inside of the detention centers they're being held. >> how many people do you have helping these kids? >> currently r.i.c.e. has a staff of 40. 25 of us are dedicated towards this work, and we recently received an emergency grant from a foundation here in texas to expand and sustain our current emergency civil legal aid response. >> so if you're dealing with this crisis, we're talking about undocumented minors, how do you give legal counsel to a child in a situation like this, a 5-year-old, for example? >> right. well, dichbl from our criminal court system, individuals who are in the immigration court system have no right to be assigned counsel by the government. we have a situation where not-for-profit organizations like ours are left to try to fill this gap by providing representation ourselves, or attempting to identify pro bono attorneys in the community who can help represent these children. when we work with older children, they can assist to us p

when we were at lackland a couple of days ago, we were told that one-third of these young little girlsooking at this girl, this room of young little girls and one-third of them get raped or abused coming up here and it is a very dangerous bus station where we're releasing 500 family units a day in laredo. about 250 of them. some of the mothers were very scared because they've been abused on the way up here. and they get abused once they get here. >> you just heard the congressman say that getting these folks back to their home countries should be a priority, at the same time, the trek has been very treacherous, going back and their futures are uncertain. when it which is to the political response to this, i think it is in some ways helps cement the republican thinking that this is all about securing the border and deportation, but when it comes to the broader picture here it is clear that the only real solution to this is immigration reform. and in the short term i'm of the mind that prospects it works for talking points for the gop, but in the long term the republican stance it could

agencies through the coordination efforts from the department of defense at joint base san antonio lackland, ventura naval station, ft. sill in oklahoma. we're continuing in our efforts to identify both public and private facilities. it is a complex situation with a number of challenges. we welcome working with the committee and congress in efforts to address it. thank you, and i'll be happy to answer questions. >> thank you, mr. greenberg. and miss palmieri, you're welcome and we welcome your testimony. >> i'm pleased to be here to discuss the department of state's response to the sharp rise in the number of unaccompanied children arriving at our border, with a direct link between this activity and dire economic and social conditions in the region. and what we're doing to further the national security interests of the united states. i appreciate your interests and look forward to working with you on this important issue. the administration is deeply concerned by the substantial increase in the number of children from central america, who are leaving their countries and attempting unauthori

we're housing them at lackland air force base, we're housing them at all sorts of facilities.nything we can find, we're using. and it takes time to get these children processed and reunited with an adult that will eventually take care of them. >> it's funny you put it that way. do you understand -- obviously you've been getting some -- probably hearing from your own constituents. do you understand why there are protests or do you think that these protests are a bit uninformed? >> i think the protests are uninformed. there's a facility that houses several hundred of these children four blocks from my home in corpus christi, texas. it's not a problem for the community. this is a humanitarian crisis. the whole country needs to step up and help out. >> so i take it that the request from the president, he's estimated and i think it comes from jay johnson at homeland security, a need of about $2 billion. more border patrol agents, more facilities, speeding up the process of making these decisions about deportation. i take it in general you're going to be supportive of this? >> we've

. >> my sources inside a camp for illegals at lackland air force base say it's one giant emergency room. >> measles, scabies, and lice ran rampant among the immigrants. >> we don't even know all the diseases and how extensive the diseases are. >> these are diseases sometimes that they're bringing in that our doctors are not used to seeing. >> if you have people that are homeless and have all sorts of diseases invading neighborhoods and you're not made aware that they're coming, that's a big problem. >> they say kids have scabies, say they have chickenpox, and all-out epidemic of lice, so severe they say the bugs can be seen crawling down the faces of the children. >> fears of disease among the unaccompanied migrant children coming up from central america are vastly overblown. as documented in an excellent piece, out today in the "texas on server." when it comes to infectious diseases, children in the central american countries where most of the children are coming from are often more likely to be vaccinated than american children. for example, unicef reports that 93% of kids in guatemal

he was only 72 miles from lackland affect where i've been at to see the young kids there.was only 72 miles. air force can do it in 15 minutes or less. >> it also makes no sense. they do -- the president does photo ops all the time. to say he is not doing it because it's a photo op doesn't make much sense to me. you take issue with the way governor perry has treated this situation and immigration more broadly? >> well, i mean, i'm sorry, did governor perry just say he wanted to send the national guard here? i mean, i've been here now for a few hours. for what? is the governor afraid of teddy bears? of these kids? what are we afraid of here? i just find it so tragic, really. the kind of leadership that is happening in texas with governor perry. right? you have a governor that keeps -- >> do you think more personnel are needed on to the border not just for border security, but to deal with this influx, jose? >> well, i mean, the thing is we're conflating -- governor perry has been conflating these two issues, right? governor perry with other republican leaders have been sayin

cases of lice reported among the 7,000 young people that have been through the facilities a lot lackland fort sill. they told us there were no reports of scabies. they're having us believe that pretty much there are no major health problems at these facilities when in fact we have a number of sources telling us otherwise. >> you make it sound like a great big emergency room. >> absolutely right, steve. many of the people i talked to here in texas firmly believe this is nothing more than a government sanctioned invasion of our country, steve. >> todd starnes reporting live from dallas with news that at least three of the kids in one of those camps has t.b. todd, thank you very much. 20 minutes after the top of the hour. take a look at this. a guy inside a packed bus lights it on fire. what was that guy thinking? look at that right there. >>> a shocking report. 58% of colleges restrict free speech. our next guest says he stepped out of the free speech zone and got in big trouble. he will join us live next. ♪ ♪ i do a lot oresearch on angie's list before i do any projects on my home. i love

but what was particularly interesting to me was the charities in oklahoma had come to lackland to work with the baptists with to learn what was the most effective way to deal with this. so i think we're doing all right. the question is -- what does it really -- what are we going to do? the urgent supplemental that meets the needs of today. every single colleague has said we need to look at the long-range implications of this. some talk about a more military intervention strategy. some talk about changing the law on refugees. these are not necessarily my personal direction, because when you're talking to the children you find out why would a mother making minimum wage somewhere, scrape together $3,000? you can imagine what it took to save that money, to send it to essentially, a scoundrel, to bring her daughter or her son across the border. and to know the h treacherous, dangerous journey that they're going to do? it will only risk that. the dangers is so severe. we all heard these stories that are so we don't even want to repeat some of them in public. because of their. -- it's because

same thing occurred at lackland air force base in san antonio.were allowed to go down there, you can't talk to anybody. you can't talk to the staff. you can't take any photographs. you can't do any audio recording. you can't do anything. you have to follow us along the trail and we will show you what we want you to see. why are they acting this way? because they have something to hide. and that is very unfortunate. congressman bridenstein is right. >> i think everyone can understand wanting to protect the children in this situation which i think is what the administration would say is reason for that. why you can't talk to staff, people heading up operations down there? that is completely undemocrattic on any definition that you can think of. these are pictures that we have so far. we're working to get more. congressman poe, thank you very much for being with us today. >> thank you, martha. bill: 20 minutes past now. operation "fast & furious" back in the spotlight today. there is a group talking to a judge asking for critical information. will t

but what was particularly interesting to me was the charities in oklahoma had come to lackland to work with the baptists with to learn what was the most effective way to deal with this. so i think we're doing all right. the question is -- what does it really -- what are we going to do? the urgent supplemental that meets the needs of today. every single colleague has said we need to look at the long-range implications of this. some talk about a more military intervention strategy. some talk about changing the law on refugees. these are not necessarily my personal direction, because when you're talking to the children you find out why would a mother making minimum wage somewhere, scrape together $3,000? you can imagine what it took to save that money, to send it to essentially, a scoundrel, to bring her daughter or her son across the border. and to know the h treacherous, dangerous journey that they're going to do? it will only risk that. the dangers is so severe. we all heard these stories that are so we don't even want to repeat some of them in public. because of their. -- it's because

and i saw fantastic work being done while the children were being placed at lackland air force base and that the social services were being run by -- under contract by faith-based organization the baptist church. now, i know the distinguished presiding officer knows a lot about human services. i myself am a social worker, and i will tell you that faith-based organization is really running a good program for these kids, but we are running out of money. we need money for food and shelter for the children. we need money for the border agents. we need money for transportation to shelters and also transportation when we can return these children home. we need money for immigration judges and legal services for the children to determine their asylum status. as i said, we need the muscular deterrence in the home country breaking up the organized gangs that then create the violence that then sets these children on their journey. the best way to make sure that the surgery of children is stopped is not by harsher immigration roles. it's -- rules. it's by making it hard on the drug dealers and the

the older ones, the 16 and 17-year-olds, at least in the conversations i had with them, either at lackland or in the pc facilities or in shelters, some have come on their own. >> and those that rode the train of death, did they have a smuggler? >> typically, yes. >> now, the national security interests, if we do nothing, nothing as it relates to central america except tell the central americans get your act together but we do nothing more, what's going to be the consequences of that? >> mr. chairman, i think you'll have serious law enforcement consequences for the united states as well. as noted, these criminal gangs operate not only in the central american countries, they operate in the united states. we are bringing actions against them even today on that basis, and the cartels do the same. >> when we had a concerted effort in colombia, did we not achieve taking a country that was virtually on the verge of not being able to control its own internal sovereignty being run by drug lords and ultimately change that country to what is now one of the finest democracies in the western hemisphere

lie down, and provided with tin-foil blankets, they are sent to more permanent facilities like the lackland air base in san antonio where we also visited. that facility has a dormitory, a health clinic, a school. classes are conducted in tents. and the treatment is far more humane. they are given classes in english. they are eager, intensely eager to learn english, and they are taught in classrooms in these tents where there's a blackboard and an american flag outside an artificial turf soccer field where they are intensely eager to play soccer. and they stay there about seven days to three weeks until they are moved to a home, because many of them have relatives. most of them have some family members in this country. or another facility. from one temporary facility to a better one, and then to a home. in the second facility, they're in the custody of the h.h.s. or the office of refugees resettlement. not the border patrol. and it is a better facility; no question. but still rudimentary. one of the most powerful moments of this trip was to watch these students, i would say about 20 of them

this and from a financial standpoint, we're paying $500 a day to keep some of these children at lackland air force base. that adds up real quick. paying the judges is going to be more economically feasible than care for these children over the long term. >> does that address the immediate concern that there simply aren't enough facilities to house a lot of these unaccompanied minors, and they're being put in holding facilities that aren't appropriate for children. that's the most immediate concern, isn't it? >> right, but if we don't have to wait years for the hearings and able to process them in a week, the facility that is we have, one of which is about three blocks from my home in corpus christi texas won't be so overrun. >> you are a republican that represents a constituency that is almost 50% hispanic. how personal is this issue for your constituents? you brought up a great example be how it is affecting your district. >> what i'm hearing from back home is we've got to take care of the children, but we've got to discourage them from making this dangerous trek on top of a train acros

i was discharged out of russell ha hall, part of lackland from a m institution and congressman o'rourke i must tell you i have served my country honorably and i am having trouble receiving my benefits and i would like to know out of the $17 billion my claim, i entered my claim the 10th of -- 17th september 2010. they paid me a severance pay of $17,500. then turned around and made me repay that service pay and took my disability. >> any thoughts. >> thank you for your service. appreciate the question. you hit upon this larger issue that we've been talking about this morning which is we can spend more money on the va, we can add resources, but if we don't place a premium on performance, excellence and accountability we'll have allowed this crisis we're in to go to waste. you see that on the veterans benefits side of the house teva as well. in waco, texas where claims for el paso veterans are processed we were seeing last year wait times on a first time service connected be disability claim of 470 days on average. some veterans were waiting much longer, perhaps veterans like mr. matthews.

in detention facilities in mcallen, texas, and i've seen the 1rks200 children being sheltered at lackland force base in san antonio. most disturbing of all, i've heard the stories about the most god-awful journey anyone should ever have to experience. we're here today because we have a responsibility to stop this crisis. the president has failed to lead, so i firmly believe this chamber must act. doing nothing is not an option. since june when the speaker asked me to lead a working group to provide policy recommendations on what we can do to address the crisis, i've been to the texas-mexico border twice and led a co-dell to guatemala and honduras to see where the children are coming from and why. i'll be returning to the border tomorrow for a third time the members of the working group dove head first into this issue to understand this crisis and provide recommendations for short-term, immediate response. the policies we reck mened are not an attempt for immigration reform, they are serious solutions to address this crisis. i want to take a moment to recognize the -- recognize the hard wo

lackland myself to see the situation. so we're in good consultation with all these other agencies. >> yeah. just trying to make sure that there's an understanding that it's not just jeh johnson who's responsible for this issue. but there are other players also who actually we need to have conversation with. one of the conversations that i think would be important is under existing law, how long would the children be in custody of dhs before they're passed off to hhs? >> under existing law, we are required to transfer the child within 72 hours to hhs. from the point at which we identify the child as an unaccompanied minor. i know that the provision in the law says there's an exception for extraordinary circumstances. but in general the legal requirement is 72 hours. >> and i guess my question to administrator fugate is, have you been able to coordinate the resources so that 72 hour pass on is working? >> at this time, with the number of children coming in, we're not meeting the 72 hours. but since june 1st, we've added ove

agencies through the coordination efforts from the department of defense at joint base san antonio lackland, ventura naval station, ft. sill in oklahoma. we're continuing in our efforts to identify both public and private facilities. it is a complex situation with a number of challenges. we welcome working with the committee and congress in efforts to address it. thank you, and i'll be happy to answer questions. >> thank you, mr. greenberg. and miss palmieri, you're welcome and we welcome your testimony. >> i'm pleased to be here to discuss the department of state's response to the sharp rise in the number of unaccompanied children arriving at our border, with a direct link between this activity and dire economic and social conditions in the region. and what we're doing to further the national security interests of the united states. i appreciate your interests and look forward to working with you on this important issue. the administration is deeply concerned by the substantial increase in the number of children from central america, who are leaving their countries and attempting unauthori

i'veul walked the halls of lackland air force base with secretary johnson.ve been down to mcallen and other locations. ita is absolutely heartbreaking. however if we're, we want to make an impact here, want to make some inroads here, we have to make some tough decisions. yount know, we've got to, you know, work very closely with guatemala and others, guatemala, to shore up their northern border. mexico to shore up their southern border with guatemala. wegu have to be, continue to be very proactive from standpoint ofno investigating the networks. and when these individual make it into the country, we've got to make sure they have their due process. once they, a decision is made to remove, be able to remove quickly. i think, when you look at the issues that we're faced in 2006 with the brazilians and years before that, we had a rash much hondurans as i understand, what changed the dynamic of it all was the ability to apprehend detained and deport quickly. and i believe we need to have more discussion on that. and i think, that's, to me, is the critical issue w

i was discharged out of wilford .all at lackland air force base i was discharged from a mental institutiongressman o'rourke, i have served my country honorably. i am having trouble receiving my benefits. theuld like to know, out of $17 billion, my claims -- i september 17,im 2010. ofy paid me severance pay $17,500. they turned around and made me repay that severance pay and they took my disability for 14.5 years. host: congressman o'rourke, any thoughts? guest: thank you for your service. i appreciate the question. you've hit upon a larger issue this morning, which is we can spend more money on the v.a., we can add resources, but if we do not place a premium on performance, excellent, and accountability, then we will have allowed this crisis we are in to go to waste. you see that on the veterans benefits administration side of the house at the v.a. as well. in waco, texas, where claims for el paso veterans are processed, we were seeing wait times on a first-time service-connected days onty claim of 470 average. that means some veterans were waiting much longer, perhaps veterans like mr. ma

last week with the h1n1 flu virus and is now being treated at lackland air force base in san antonio. medical experts say this one case isn't cause for alarm. the h1n1 virus is already common in the united states. this past flu season it was actually the most prevalent strain. some, though, are back to calling it the swine flu, harkening it back to the fear of 2009 when h1n1 first broke out in america. >> i think you need to balance responsible public health, scientific, rooted analysis debate and decisions against those old divisive drumbeats of fearmongering that have accompanied waves of immigrants throughout the history. on the front lines the scare tactics have trickled down. >> bottom line is they have diseases. >> we don't want your unhealthy people coming here making our kids and my wife and my mother and father sick. >> and there are some health concerns from those three busses stopped tuesday in california at the national border patrol counsel confirms, of the 136 immigrants screened, ten children are at local hospitals for unknown ailments and seven additional kids are quar

lackland air force base, the border patrol academy barracks at artesia, new mexico.ch better and nicer facilities than certainly a border patrol holding cell. >> very important to remind people that most of these undocumented are just kids, and in that innocence we have to protect them. let me ask you. it is now politically sailable to say we have to seal up the border. we need to do it now. this is proof of it, these undocumented kids. do you believe practically you'll ever be able to seal the southern border of the united states? >> i guess my analogy would be i was a police chief for a long time, both in buffalo and also in seattle. people would ask me is this a safe city? everyone had a different definition, so if we look at our border today, we have more resources, not only border patrol agents but technology. we have great working relationships, for instance, with the texas department of public safety, local sheriffs departments, local police departments. the border is more secure and more safe, and when you look at those crime numbers in those cities in the un

there was a group outside of lackland air force base in san antonio, and the kids actually were begging for workers to come and to hold them and to hug them. many of these kids want to go back home. they want to go back home and that story is not getting out. they don't know what's going on. >> todd starnes thank you so much for that. >> coming up next, an islamic terror plot to blow up some of the world's most iconic spots have been exposed. >> mom always said wait 20 minutes before getting in the pool after eating. but is that really true? dr. marc siegel separates fact from fiction when it comes to summertime health. ♪ ♪ hello! i'm a kid. and us kids have an important message for our grown ups. three grams daily of beta-glucan... a soluable fiber from whole grain oat foods like cheerios can help lower cholesterol. and where can you find beta-glucan? in oats. and, they're yummy! i'm going back to being a kid now. thank you! really... so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 dollars a month? yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited

. >> visited the emergency shelter at lackland air force base in my district in san antonio.was that like? >> it's a military base so you have, you know, a few dozen kids per room and in single beds, but it was nothing like the pictures we saw coming out of the processing centers along the border which were just horrendous. >> the pictures that you describe are very dramatic. there are a lot of people, republicans and democrats, suggesting the president should go see those for himself when he heads to your state later today and tomorrow. do you think he should? >> this will not be his last opportunity to make it to the border. he feels that going down there would help his understanding of the situation, you know. this is something that the president is dealing with every day, that much of his administration is committed a lot of resources to finding out about, and so i think if he thinks it will help his understanding he should go down there. >> you had time to spend with some of these children who are here, some of the tens of thousand at this point of children from honduras