Readers on child-migrant wave: Current law adequate solution

Throughout the summer months, children from violence-plagued Central America arrived at U.S. ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border in record numbers. As border infrastructure – from detention facilities and the advocates required to give each and every minor a hearing to ensure their safety – was stressed to the breaking point in efforts to deal with the problem, President Obama requested legislation and newly appropriated money to expedite the children’s passage through the process to get them to appropriate custodians.

Some commentators have blamed a lack of enforcement as primary in the wave of migrants, as some have seen success reaching parents or other family members already in the U.S. A slight majority of Overdrive readers saw current law as adequate on the border, provided adequate enforcement was in place.

One in five readers favored speeding up the deportation process generally, with another 12 percent overall seeing removal of the requirement for a hearing as a key element in boosting that speed. House Republicans passed a bill that would have removed that requirement, and also reverse the Obama administration’s policy on illegal immigrants who’ve been living in the U.S. since childhood, but Obama rejected the measure as a non-starter, vowing then to deal with the recent child-migrants issue with available resources.