Rep. Miller: White House Tone Deaf to Surge of Illegal Immigrant Children

Statement

U.S. Representative Candice Miller (MI-10), Vice Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, issued the following statement on today's White House "Champions of Change" ceremony celebrating 10 young adult immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children and were granted temporary amnesty by the Administration through its Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program:

"Today's White House celebration, flaunting the success stories of 10 immigrant children who entered the U.S. illegally, is exactly the type of tone deaf messaging fueling the unprecedented surge of immigrant children being smuggled across our southern border.

"How can we expect to dispel rumors throughout Central America that children who enter America illegally will be allowed to stay, while simultaneously touting the success stories of a few illegal immigrant children granted de facto amnesty by the Administration? The sad truth is that most of the children being smuggled across the border today, in unprecedented numbers, will not have similar success stories. Instead, tens of thousands of these children are being put at risk of violence, sexual assault and even death.

"This humanitarian crisis is heartbreaking, and it is only going to get worse unless the White House starts to take it seriously. They must immediately call up the National Guard to assist our overwhelmed border agents and begin an advertising campaign throughout Central America to tell the people in that region that there has been no change in U.S. law, that if they send their children unaccompanied by their parents to our border they will putting them at grave risk."

Source