Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX28) released the following statement in response to the announcement by the White House of changed policy:

“I am pleased to see that the Administration is finally taking some steps to address the crisis caused by the flood of undocumented immigrants and unaccompanied children from Central America arriving at the Texas-Mexico border.  Many of the ideas they included are suggestions I proposed at the end of May in a letter I sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and the Appropriations Committee.  My letter called for the establishment of a multi-agency “one stop shop” at the border in which the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Justice would work jointly to ensure all elements of the adjudication and removal process can be completed at a central location on the border. 

I am encouraged that the Administration has announced policy changes today that reflect our shared commitment to:

1)      Manage the process of detaining, processing, and removing illegal immigrants and unaccompanied children as humanely as possible

2)      Surge the capacity to remove family units more quickly and expand the use of ankle bracelets as forms of alternatives to detention

3)      Reassign immigration judges and officers to the Rio Grande on an emergency basis to speed cases in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas

4)      Offer assistance to Central America to expand repatriation and address the underlying causes of illegal immigration to the United States

5)      Amplify the message that unaccompanied children and immigrants from Central American will not be allowed to remain in the United States as soon as they cross the border

I am also pleased that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is traveling to South Texas today to visit the Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio and the Border Patrol facility in the Rio Grande Valley.  I spoke to Secretary Johnson in person yesterday and discussed the need to fully assess the federal response to the crisis on the border and I was encouraged by his response.”   

As of June 18^th, there were over 3,100 unaccompanied children in Customs and Border Protection custody along the Southwest Border and over 1,800 in the Rio Grande Valley.  The Department of Health and Human Services is currently housing over 7,800 unaccompanied children in facilities across the country.