President Obama Wants $3.8 Billion for Immigration, But Won't Visit Border
President Obama will request $3.8 billion from Congress to alleviate the immigration crisis at the border, according to The Washington Post. The funds, nearly double the anticipated White House request, will go towards the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, State and Health and Human Services to add more immigration judges, processing facilities and to help deport more of the children and adults immigrating from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
The report comes on the same day that President Obama is scheduled to fly down to Texas to fundraise in Austin and Dallas. Obama will not, however, be visiting the border, sparking a lot of political grumbling. Gov. Rick Perry has refused to meet the president when he arrives, according to The Huffington Post. “I appreciate the offer to greet you at Austin-Bergstrom Airport, but a quick handshake on the tarmac will not allow for a thoughtful discussion regarding the humanitarian and national security crises enveloping the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas,” Perry wrote in a letter to the president on Monday. (Update, 11:53 am: Perry will meet with Obama on Wednesday to discuss the border crisis.)
RELATED: Rick Perry's Immigration Meeting With Obama Produces Photo for the Ages
Despite the negative reaction from the right (one theory posited by Fox News is that Obama "doesn’t want to catch anything from them," as Fox & Friends’ Steve Doocy said last week) on Monday Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the White House wasn't worried about the optics of not visiting the border, since the president "is very aware of the situation that exists," according to The Hill. Earnest also said that most of the kids would be sent home, despite calls from immigration activists and the United Nations to let the children stay.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/07/president-obama-wants-38-billion-for-immigration-but-wont-visit-border/374088/
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