DOJ ANNOUNCES "NEW PRIORITIES" TO DEAL WITH MIGRANT BORDER CROSSING SURGE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Department of Justice Announces New Priorities to Address Surge of Migrants Crossing into the U.S.

Justice Department Proposes Establishing Legal and Law Enforcement Advisors to Aid in Disrupting and Dismantling Immigrant Smuggling Operations
Deputy Attorney General James Cole announced today that the Justice Department will implement a series of steps to help address the influx of migrants crossing the southern border of the United States.  These include refocusing immigration court resources to adjudicate the cases of recent migrants; providing support and training to help address violence in Central America; and redoubling efforts to work with other federal agencies and the Mexican government to investigate and prosecute those who smuggle migrants to the United States.

“Individuals who embark on the perilous journey from Central America to the United States are subject to violent crime, abuse, and extortion as they rely on dangerous human smuggling networks to transport them through Central America and Mexico,” Deputy Attorney General Cole said.  “We have an obligation to provide humanitarian care for children and adults with children who are apprehended on our borders, but we also must do whatever we can to stem the tide of this dangerous migration pattern.  The efforts we are announcing today are intended to address the challenges of this influx in a humane, efficient and timely way.”

Cole announced that the department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) will refocus its resources to prioritize cases involving migrants who have recently crossed the southwest border and whom DHS has placed into removal proceedings -- so that these cases are processed both quickly and fairly to enable prompt removal in appropriate cases, while ensuring the protection of asylum seekers and others.

“This refocusing of resources will allow EOIR to prioritize the adjudication of the cases of those individuals involved in the evolving situation at the southwest border,” said EOIR Director Juan P. Osuna.  “Although our case management priorities are shifting, our immigration judges will continue to evaluate and rule upon cases consistent with all substantive and procedural rights and safeguards applicable to immigration proceedings.”
         
To augment its capacity to adjudicate cases as promptly as possible, EOIR is committed to hiring more immigration judges.  EOIR this week will also publish a regulation allowing for the appointment of temporary immigration judges.  Further, EOIR plans both to expand its existing legal access programs, and enhance access to legal resources and assistance for persons in removal proceedings.

Cole also announced that the Department is seeking new funding, as a part of the President’s emergency supplemental appropriations request, to assist Central American countries in combatting transnational crime and the threat posed by criminal gangs.  This regional strategy for law enforcement capacity building would be aimed at addressing the issues that have been a factor in forcing many migrants to flee Central America for the United States.

The department will also redouble its efforts to work with Mexican authorities to identify and apprehend smugglers who are aiding unaccompanied children in crossing the U.S. border.  Later this week, the Deputy Attorney General will also be meeting with the five U.S. Attorneys who represent the southwest border districts to strategize on ways to disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations on the border that are facilitating the transportation of unaccompanied minors and others.

Today, Deputy Attorney General Cole will go to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s McAllen Station and processing facility to see the urgent situation at the border.  EOIR Director Osuna will be testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to highlight the Justice Department’s efforts to aid in the administration-wide response to the migrant influx.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S REQUEST FOR MONEY TO DEAL WITH CENTRAL AMERICA MIGRATION CRISIS

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Letter from the President -- Regarding Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Request to Address the Increase in Child and Adult Migration from Central America in the Rio Grande Valley Areas of the Southwest Border; and Wildfire Suppression

Dear Mr. Speaker:

On June 30, I provided an update on my Administration's efforts in addressing the urgent humanitarian situation on both sides of the Southwest border with an aggressive, unified, and coordinated Federal response.  Today, I ask the Congress to consider the enclosed emergency supplemental appropriations request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 that includes $3.7 billion to comprehensively address this urgent humanitarian situation.

This funding would support a sustained border security surge through enhanced domestic enforcement, including air surveillance; expenses related to the repatriation and reintegration of migrants; associated transportation costs; additional immigration judge teams, immigration prosecutors, and immigration litigation attorneys to ensure cases are processed fairly and as quickly as possible; funding to address the root causes of migration; public diplomacy and international information programs; the operational costs of responding to the significant rise in apprehensions of unaccompanied children and adults traveling with children; and expenses associated with the appropriate care for those apprehended, consistent with Federal law, and the necessary medical response.

I am also requesting $615 million for emergency wildfire suppression activities for FY 2014, and a new discretionary cap adjustment for wildfire suppression operations starting in FY 2015.  This funding would provide for the necessary expenses for wildfire suppression and rehabilitation activities this fiscal year so we can fight fires without having to resort to damaging transfers from our wildfire treatment and protection activities.  Too often in recent years, this cycle of transfers has undermined our efforts to prepare for and reduce the severity of wildfires, which is both fiscally imprudent and self-defeating.

My request includes language to support a discretionary cap adjustment to allow the Federal Government to respond to severe, complex, and threatening fires or a severe fire season in the same way as we fund other natural disasters such as hurricanes or earthquakes.  This approach would provide funding certainty in future years for firefighting costs, free up resources to invest in areas that will promote long-term forest health and reduce fire risk, and maintain fiscal responsibility by addressing wildfire disaster needs through agreed-upon funding mechanisms.    

My Administration requests that the funding described above be designated as emergency requirements pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended, (BBEDCA).  In addition, my Administration requests that a new cap adjustment for wildfire suppression operations be added to section 251(b)(2) of BBEDCA.

I urge the Congress to act expeditiously in considering this important request, the details of which are set forth in the enclosed letter from the Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Finally, separate from this request, my Administration will continue to work with the Congress -- following up on my letter to congressional leadership on June 30, 2014 -- to ensure that we have the legal authorities to maximize the impact of our efforts, including providing the Secretary of Homeland Security additional authority to exercise discretion in processing the return and removal of unaccompanied minor children from non-contiguous countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, and increasing penalties for those who smuggle vulnerable migrants, like children.

Sincerely,

 BARACK OBAMA

PRESIDNET OBAMA'S LETTER TO CONGRESS REGARDING HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN RIO GRANDE VALLEY

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

June 30, 2014

Letter from the President -- Efforts to Address the Humanitarian Situation in the Rio Grande Valley Areas of Our Nation’s Southwest Border

Dear Mr. Speaker:    (Senator Reid:)  (Senator McConnell:)   
(Representative Pelosi:)
 
I am writing to update you on my Administration's efforts to address the urgent humanitarian situation in the Río Grande Valley areas of our Nation's Southwest border, and to request that the Congress support the new tools and resources we need to implement a unified, comprehensive Federal Government response.
 
While overall apprehensions across our entire border have only slightly increased during this time period and remain at near historic lows, we have seen a significant rise in apprehensions and processing of children and individuals from Central America who are crossing into the United States in the Río Grande Valley areas of the Southwest border.  The individuals who embark upon this perilous journey are subject to violent crime, abuse, and extortion as they rely on dangerous human smuggling networks to transport them through Central America and Mexico.
 
My Administration continues to address this urgent humanitarian situation with an aggressive, unified, and coordinated Federal response on both sides of the border.  Earlier this month, I directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate this Government-wide response.  This includes fulfilling our legal and moral obligation to make sure we appropriately care for unaccompanied children who are apprehended, while taking aggressive steps to surge resources to our Southwest border to deter both adults and children from this dangerous journey, increase capacity for enforcement and removal proceedings, and quickly return unlawful migrants to their home countries. 
 
Specifically, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and DHS are deploying additional enforcement resources -- including immigration judges, Immigration and Customs Enforcement  attorneys, and asylum officers -- to focus on individuals and adults traveling with children from Central America and entering without authorization across the Southwest border.  Part of this surge will include detention of adults traveling with children, as well as expanded use of the Alternatives to Detention program, to avoid a more significant humanitarian situation.  The DHS is working to secure additional space that satisfies applicable legal and humanitarian standards for detention of adults with children.  This surge of resources will mean that cases are processed fairly and as quickly as possible, ensuring the protection of asylum seekers and refugees while enabling the prompt removal of individuals who do not qualify for asylum or other forms of relief from removal.  Finally, to attack the criminal organizations and smuggling rings that are exploiting these individuals, we are surging law enforcement task forces in cooperation with our international partners, with a focus on stepped-up interdiction and prosecution.
 
To address the root causes of migration and stem the flow of adults and unaccompanied children into the United States, we are also working closely with our Mexican and Central American partners.  Two weeks ago, at my direction, the Vice President convened leaders from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, as well as Mexico, to discuss our shared responsibility for promoting security, and agree on concrete ways that we can work together to stem the flow of migrants taking the dangerous trip to the United States.  These countries committed to working together and with the United States to address the immediate humanitarian crisis as well as the long-term challenges.  On Tuesday, Secretary Kerry will meet with the leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to follow up on the items agreed to in the Vice President's trip, and next week, Secretary Johnson will travel to Guatemala.  I also spoke with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto about our shared responsibility to promote security in both our countries and the region.  As part of this effort, the United States committed foreign assistance resources to improve capacity of these countries to receive and reintegrate returned individuals and address the underlying security and economic issues that cause migration.  This funding will enable El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to improve their existing repatriation processes and increase the capacity of these governments and nongovernmental organizations to provide expanded services to returned migrants.  Additional resources will support community policing and law enforcement efforts to combat gang violence and strengthen citizen security in some of the most violent communities in these countries.
 
Finally, we are working with our Central American partners, nongovernmental organizations, and other influential voices to send a clear message to potential migrants so that they understand the significant dangers of this journey and what they will experience in the United States.  These public information campaigns make clear that recently arriving individuals and children will be placed into removal proceedings, and are not eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals process and earned citizenship provisions that are part of comprehensive immigration reform currently under consideration in the Congress.  The Vice President made this clear in his public and private events on June 20, I addressed this last week in an interview, and we will continue to use multiple channels to counteract the misinformation that is being spread by smugglers.
 
While we are working across all of these channels, to execute a fully effective Government-wide strategy as the influx of migrants continues, we are eager to work with the Congress to ensure that we have the legal authorities to maximize the impact of our efforts.  Initially, we believe this may include: 
 
• providing the DHS Secretary additional authority to exercise discretion in processing the return and removal of unaccompanied minor children from non-contiguous countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador; and
 
• increasing penalties for those who smuggle vulnerable migrants, like children.
 
In addition, we will request congressional action on emergency supplemental appropriations legislation to support:
 
• an aggressive deterrence strategy focused on the removal and repatriation of recent border crossers;
 
• a sustained border security surge through enhanced domestic enforcement, including interdiction and prosecution of criminal networks; 
 
• a significant increase in immigration judges, reassigning them to adjudicate cases of recent border crossers, and establishing corresponding facilities to expedite the processing of cases involving those who crossed the border in recent weeks;
 
• a stepped up effort to work with our Central American partners to repatriate and reintegrate migrants returned to their countries, address the root causes of migration, and communicate the realities of these dangerous journeys; and 
 
• the resources necessary to appropriately detain, process, and care for children and adults.
 
My Administration will be submitting a formal detailed request when the Congress returns from recess, and I look forward to working with you to address this urgent situation as expeditiously as possible.

Sincerely,

BARACK OBAMA