Obama seeks $2bn for border security

The White House will ask Congress for $2bn in emergency funds to tighten its southern border and secure support for changing the law to allow the speedier repatriation of unaccompanied children who have entered the US.

The administration has been caught by surprise by a surge in children coming across the border - more than 50,000 unaccompanied minors and about 40,000 women with children have been caught on the border this year.

The crisis over the children coincides with the final unwinding of any bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for a comprehensive overhaul of US immigration law to find a solution for the 11m-estimated undocumented immigrants already in the US.

The Senate passed a broadly bipartisan bill last year which offers a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, but Republicans in the House of Representatives and the White House have not been able to compromise over an approach to take the bill further.

With Congress soon to retire for its lengthy summer recess, there is by general consensus little chance that any bill could be passed before the midterm congressional elections in November.

The problem of the unaccompanied children at the border also complicates the White House's planned response to the failure of immigration reform - to use President Barack Obama's executive powers to slow down the already high pace of deportations under his administration.

The deportation of an estimated 2m-plus illegal immigrants by the Obama administration had already sparked fierce criticism of the president from parts of the Democratic base, prompting him to commission a review of the policy in March.

A senior administration official said Mr Obama would write to Congress on Monday to ask for additional funds and "added flexibility to deal with the significant rise in apprehensions of children and individuals from Central America who are crossing into the US".

The official said the White House might ask for more discretion in returning unaccompanied minors "from non-contiguous countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador."

The Senate immigration bill packaged legal status for the US's undocumented immigrants with stronger border security, and more visas for both low-skilled guest workers and highly-skilled tech workers and scientists.

© The Financial Times Limited 2014. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation