Issa: Poverty driving border surge

Rep. Darrell Issa returned from a weekend fact-finding trip to Central America convinced that increased violence is not behind the surge of migrants to the U.S. He suggests poverty is the greater cause.

The Vista Republican said the migrants are seizing on the chance to exploit a loophole in a 2008 human trafficking law that mandates unaccompanied minors who say they’re fleeing violence be given at least temporary shelter in the U.S.

“This is something people are being coached to say to avoid being sent back,” Issa told U-T San Diego.

Issa is urging Republican lawmakers approve more money the Obama administration wants to care for tens of thousands of migrants who have flooded over the border in recent months.

But he wants increased funding tied to changing the law to speed returning the migrants to their home countries, a change many in Democratic leadership oppose.

Issa and four lawmakers with him met with government, non-government and Catholic officials in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

“What we were told in these three countries are that while many of these kids are being recruited into gangs, there is no uptick in violence and it is not the trigger for this surge,” he said. “Guatemalan officials are very specific in saying that these people are not going from violent areas but rather a poor, rural area.”

The vast majority of migrants are seeking to join family members already in the U.S and find work, he said.

“We went out of our way to ask about violence, and while it may be a good reason to leave, it is not the reason for the surge,” Issa said. “All three countries said they wanted their children back and oppose this out-migration.”

Issa said he believes its critical the House and Senate act on changing the law before lawmakers begin a six-week recess Aug. 1.

He is among several members of Congress who are sponsoring bills calling for fixes to the trafficking law. While the White House has that is needed, opposition among some prominent Democrats including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is further complicating the issue politically.

Issa’s remarks came a few hours after Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced he is sending 1,000 National Guard troops to the border with Mexico in his state to help control the flood of migrants, which has surpassed more than 57,0000 this year.

At the White House, President Barack Obama on Monday met with Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and other members of his Homeland Security Team to address the border issue. Obama was scheduled to meet Friday with the presidents of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador to discuss the problem.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Monday that the average of 355 unaccompanied children who showed up at the border each day in June has fallen to an average of 150 a day this month.

Earnest said putting National Guard troops on the border, which Perry has repeatedly asked the administration to do, is not a substitute for larger immigration reform that has stalled in the House. The immigration bill passed by the Senate last year calls for hiring thousands more Border Patrol officers.

“The president does not see this in any way as a substitute for the kind of more enduring response this administration has sought,” Earnest said of Gov. Perry’s announcement. “A much more powerful symbol would be the bipartisan passage of legislation that would actually make a historic investment in border security and send an additional 20,000 personnel to the border.”