Obama prods GOP on border issues

WASHINGTON (AP) — With one week left before Congress’ August recess, President Barack Obama is prodding Republicans to help ease the influx of minors and migrant families from Central America, but with chances dimming that border legislation will reach his desk before the break, he also is focusing on other ways to stem the flow.

GOP leaders are working against time to find a consensus within their party to deal with more than 57,000 children and other migrants who have arrived since October, mostly from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

Obama’s demand for congressional action comes as GOP lawmakers are attempting to coalesce behind a narrow package of changes, including sending National Guard troops to the border, increasing the number of U.S. immigration judges and changing a law so that migrant youths arriving by the tens of thousands could be sent home more quickly. 

The package would cost less than $1 billion, several lawmakers said, far less than the $3.7 billion Obama requested to deal with the crisis.

Obama, who met this past week with presidents from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, said the U.S. has compassion for the migrant children, but those who do not have a proper claim to remain in the United States will be turned back. At the same time, the regional leaders said the president offered them assurances that the rights of those children would be observed. 

“It is my hope that Speaker Boehner and House Republicans will not leave town for the month of August for their vacations without doing something to help solve this problem,” Obama said Friday after meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and three presidents from Central America.