Cornyn: ‘Undeniable’ that Obama’s actions cause child migration

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) blamed President Obama’s executive order to defer some deportations for the massive increase in unaccompanied minors trying to cross the border.

“It’s become simply undeniable, even to those in his own administration, that the president’s administrative policies — from his deferred-action program to his overall lack of serious immigration enforcement — have played a huge role in encouraging tens of thousands of children to risk their lives by traveling across Mexico,” Cornyn wrote Wednesday in an op-ed for the Dallas Morning News.

{mosads}The Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill last year, but Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said he will not bring any immigration reform legislation to the House floor this year.

Earlier this week, President Obama said Boehner’s refusal to move legislation would lead him to take administrative actions on immigration reform. The president has already deferred the deportation of undocumented children who were brought to the United States by their parents, but this wouldn’t apply to new children entering the country.

“The president insists on blaming Congress, specifically Republicans, for doing nothing. If he wants to know why Congress hasn’t been able to pass immigration reform, all he has to do is look at his own policies, which have created a massive amount of distrust,” Cornyn wrote. “It’s now painfully clear that the consequences of the president’s previous executive actions include tens of thousands of children navigating some of the most dangerous migration corridors in the world.”

Thousands of children from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have been stopped for trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Cornyn said the problem is overwhelming his state’s law enforcement, which is trying to temporarily house these children until their parents are located.