WASHINGTON — President Obama will seek more than $2 billion to stem the surge of illegal immigration that has overwhelmed authorities in the Southwest, according to a published report.
Obama will also ask Congress to give immigration officials broader powers to speed up the deportation of unaccompanied minors and parents with children. The New York Times, quoting Cecilia Munoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, reported the plan Saturday. The report said Obama also will ask for tougher penalties for smugglers who bring children across the border.
Unaccompanied minors and families have been crossing the U.S.-Mexico border by the thousands, mainly in the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas, since October.
Most of the migrants come from Central America, driven north by unstable conditions in their homelands and by a widespread rumor that the U.S. government is giving families and unaccompanied children permission to stay.
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