Enforcement alone can't stop surge in child migrants, congressman says

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Deputy Ruben Salinas, lower right, of the Hidlago County Constable Department, escorts a group of Guatemalans to Border Patrol officials after they crossed the Rio Grande near Anzalduas Park outside McAllen, Texas. The group spent 3 weeks traveling across Mexico. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Deputy Ruben Salinas climbs a trail often used by people entering the country illegally south of McAllen, Texas. Salinas said that over the past few weeks he has seen as many as 120 people an hour cross over. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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A group of 16 Guatemalans receive instructions from an Hidalgo County Constable after they crossed the Rio Grande near Anzalduas Park outside McAllen, Texas. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Women and children are stopped in a park near McAllen, Texas, after they crossed the Rio Grande at Reynosa. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Deputy Ruben Salinas, left, of the Hidlago County Constable Department, questions a group of 16 Guatemalans after they crossed the Rio Grande near Anzalduas Park outside McAllen, Texas. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Two men fish on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande outside of Mission, Texas. This part of the river is a popular and common crossing point, by foot or boat, for people coming into the country illegally. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Deputy Ruben Salinas, of the Hidlago County Constable Department, closes the gate to Anzalduas Park outside McAllen, Texas. The park is a popular crossing point for people who walk or boat across the Rio Grande. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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A Border Patrol sentry looms over a spillway running off of the Rio Grande near McAllen, Texas. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Larisa Lara says goodbye to Sister Norma Pimentel, left, at a donation center set up at the Sacred Heart Church in downtown McAllen, Texas. Lara and her daughter spent 3 days in the Border Patrol processing facility before being released. A volunteer holds her 6-month-old daughter Annie. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Donations pile up at the Sacred Heart Church in McAllen, Texas, for immigrants who are making their way north to family and employment. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Larisa Lara and her 6-month-old daughter Annie are from Honduras. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Larisa Lara holds her 6-month-old daughter Annie, as she boards a bus at the McAllen, Texas, bus terminal. Lara spent 10 days crossing Mexico with her daughter and is planning on going to Dallas to join her father. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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A mother clutches the hand of her daughter as they make their way to a Catholic school in Brownsville, Tex. that was offering the immigrants food, clothing and water before they departed to other points in the country. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Marjorie Rodriguez, 9, smiles at her sister through the window of a classroom at the Immaculate Conception school in Brownsville, Texas. Rodriguez traveled with her family from Honduras. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Miriam Vanessa Diaz changes the diaper on her 2-year-old son Walter on the floor of a classroom in Brownsville. The Immaculate Conception School in Brownsville is offering the immigrants water, clothing and a place to wash up after their days long processing at the border. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Miriam Vanessa Diaz brushes the teeth of her 2-year-old son Walter in Brownsville. Diaz, from Honduras, made the journey across Mexico in a week. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Miriam Vanessa Diaz looks through donated clothing in a classroom in Brownsville. The Immaculate Conception School in Brownsville is offering the immigrants water, clothing and a place to wash up after their days long processing at the border. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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A school in Brownsville, Texas, is offering immigrants water, clothing and a place to wash up after their processing at the border. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

By Paresh Dave

June 15, 2014 7 AM PT

The surge in Central American children illegally entering the United States in recent weeks can’t be solved through enforcement alone, and it is striking pain in the hearts of Border Patrol agents, says a Democratic congressman.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, who represents Texas’ 28th District, visited with agents and children while touring an immigration detention facility Saturday.

The children had been caught crossing from countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. They spoke of the desire to risk everything to escape economic hardship and threats of violence at home, Cuellar told the Los Angeles Times.

A 14-year-old girl named Wendy feared the gang-related bloodshed near her grandmother’s home in El Salvador, Cuellar said. Hoping to reunite with her mother in Virginia, she left with her 17-year-old sister and 10-month-old nephew.

To stop thousands of children like Wendy from traveling northward, the U.S. must help build up the Central American economy, Cuellar said.

“If we keep playing defense on the 1-yard line — which is the U.S.-Mexico border — you can see what’s happening,” Cuellar said. “Bottom line is that we have got to take it to them and do something to work with Mexico on their Southern border and those countries in Central America.”

From recent conversations with Mexican officials, Cuellar said he learned that they too are alarmed by this year’s doubling of youth migrating out of Central America because many of the voyaging boys are being recruited into Mexican drug cartels.

“It’s apparently enough to get their attention,” he said.

The immigration has been driven by violent conditions in Central America and by a rumor that a new U.S. law allows women with children to secure a “permiso,” or pass, that allows them to stay in the United States indefinitely, authorities say.

An internal Border Patrol study, based on interviews with 230 migrants detained in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, found that the rumor “is apparently common knowledge in Central America and is spread by word of mouth, and international and local media.”

“A high percentage of the subjects interviewed stated their family members in the U.S. urged them to travel immediately, because the United States government was only issuing immigration ‘permisos’ until the end of June 2014.”

Referring to the Rio Grande Valley area, the report said, “If the collected information is true, RGV Sector will continue to experience increased family units from Central America, at least through June 2014. Traditionally, undocumented alien traffic decreases during the June-July timeframe; however, this year will be an exception.”

On Saturday, Cuellar became the first member of Congress to tour a temporary housing facility in McAllen, Texas, for more than 1,000 children and some adults. He first spoke with agents, who reiterated that what the Obama administration has described as a humanitarian crisis isn’t a problem you can “enforce yourself out of.”

The agents, many of whom were former military members, told Cuellar that they were pained to see so many children and mothers.

“They said, ‘Henry, no matter how strong we are, we are fathers, we are mothers, we have kids,’” Cuellar said after the tour. “‘When we leave our kids at home and come to work, and we see this — it’s hard.’”

Last week, five immigrant rights groups sued the Obama administration, alleging that children in custody between the ages of 5 and 17 have faced physical and sexual abuse, overcrowding, freezing temperatures, inadequate water and spoiled food.

The Border Patrol announced that it would look into the allegations, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is now providing humanitarian support.

The union for Border Patrol agents acknowledged a since-deleted Twitter post on Saturday that said agents were suffering from low morale because of all the new duties they have had to take on with the influx of children. The duties included “babysitting, diaper changing [and] burrito wrapping.”

Cuellar said agents were doing “heroic” work given the circumstances.

“We as Congress pay attention to all over the world except our own backyard,” Cuellar said. “I’ve been saying we have to do more with those economies in the south. If not, they are going to keep coming.”

Times staff writer Cindy Carcamo in Tucson contributed to this report.

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