Durbin ‘fed up’ with House Republicans

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Sunday expressed frustration with House Republicans for criticizing President Obama about the border crisis while they have failed to consider comprehensive immigration reform.

“I am really getting fed up with some of the critics of this administration, particularly from House Republicans,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

House GOP leaders have had a year to take up a Senate-passed immigration bill “and yet they refused to,” Durbin said.

“Now they’re arguing we need more enforcement at the borders and a lot of other things,” he said.

{mosads}“When are they going to accept their responsibility to govern, to call up this bipartisan bill for consideration?” he asked.

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he would continue to urge House Republicans to work on immigration reform.

“We’ll just continue the fight, we’ll continue a respectful effort to convince our colleagues in the House that we need to move forward on this issue,” he said on CBS.

Durbin called for a multi-pronged approach to stem the flood of Central American immigrants, including thousands of unaccompanied children, slamming the U.S. border.

He said there has to be a better outreach in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, where most of the migrants are from, and “make it clear that sending these children north is a desperate and deadly decision, and that they’ve got to stop as quickly as possible.”

Durbin also argued that heavy penalties should be levied against smugglers seeking to get immigrants across the U.S. border.

“The fact that they would lure these children into this deadly journey is just unspeakable,” he said. “It is an awful crime.”

Next, he said the United States must treat these children humanely as they’re processed back to their home countries.

“I think this administration understands what needs to be done,” Durbin said. “It’s a really amazing challenge.”