Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, said Tuesday that cartels have found a “gap” in the U.S. immigration law, and the problem of unaccompanied minors crossing the border will only get worse unless Congress acts.
“They’ve cracked the code,” he said on MSNBC of the cartels. “They’ve figured out this gap in the 2008 law that basically allows children to be released to family members in the United States with this notice to appear. It wouldn’t surprise you that most of them don’t show up.”
Mr. Cornyn announced that he is introducing the Humane Act with Rep. Henry Cuellar, Texas Democrat, which would ensure that unaccompanied kids coming in from any border are all treated the same and that they are given a chance to present their case to a judge quickly.
Mr. Cuellar said it’s important bipartisan, bicameral legislation that the House will try to deal with before leaving Washington for the entire month of August.
“On the House side, we’re going to try to do our best to move this quickly. We have to do this before July 31 when we take off for our districts,” he said.
While the president has yet to announce his stance on the bill, Mr. Cuellar said Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told him the legislation sounded good, though he hasn’t actually read through the bill yet.
• Jacqueline Klimas can be reached at jklimas@washingtontimes.com.
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