House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday formed a working group to develop solutions on the immigration crisis at the southern border.
The panel is headed by Texas Rep. Kay Granger.
"The president has allowed a national security and humanitarian crisis to develop on the U.S. southern border," Boehner said in a statement. "There are two imperatives here: Protect those children and secure our border.
"The president has failed to take the necessary steps to address this crisis," the Ohio Republican said. "I know this group will get to work immediately."
Boehner last week called on President Barack Obama
to send the National Guard to the U.S. border with Mexico to help deal with the deluge of illegals streaming into the country. Beside Mexico, they are coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.
He has called the flood of immigrants "a national security and humanitarian crisis."
The situation has reached epidemic proportions — particularly with the large numbers of children traveling alone — and it has led federal officials to dump illegal immigrants in other states and to house them at detention centers on military bases in Oklahoma, Texas, and California.
Administration officials have attributed the deluge to conditions in immigrants' home countries, but Republicans have charged that lax enforcement of immigration laws will allow many migrants to remain in the country. They also have cited news reports in Central American media that they say encourage illegals to come to this country.
Members of the Boehner working group are Reps. John Carter of Texas, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, Mike McCaul of Texas, Steve Pearce of New Mexico, and Matt Salmon of Arizona.
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