Cornyn begs Obama to see border with his ‘own eyes’

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) called on President Obama to visit the border on his trip to Texas this week in order to see the hardships of thousands of undocumented child immigrants that have been detained.

“Please come see it with your own eyes,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Witness what is a very sad and in many ways a tragic situation that could have been mitigated if not prevented.”

{mosads}Lawmakers have grown increasingly concerned about the thousands of children from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without their parents or proper documentation.

Republicans have blamed the increase in minors crossing the border on Obama’s executive order to defer the deportation of illegal immigrant children who were brought to the United States by their parents, known as Dreamers. New children entering the country would not be eligible for deferred action and the White House has said most of them will be deported.

Cornyn said it would take Obama just one hour on Air Force One to travel from his scheduled fundraising events in Texas to the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Either the president doesn’t really understand this border crisis or he doesn’t care,” Cornyn said. “If you refuse to go out of stubborn pride or whatever it is then you will continue to be ignorant. … I hope the president will reconsider.”

Earlier Tuesday, the White House asked Congress for $3.7 billion in emergency funding to deal with the crisis.