2014 border surge

An official with the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants expects a second wave of at least 30,000 unaccompanied alien children to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border this fall. Tiffany Nelms told the Washington Examiner that the flow has temporarily slowed because of the summer heat, making the journey across Mexico and into the United States more difficult.

Comparing data from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, the National Review Online is reporting that the Justice Department has no record for at least half of the Unaccompanied Alien Children who illegally crossed the U.S. border since 2013. The DOJ's Executive Office for Immigration Review shows receipts for 41,952 UACs since the beginning of 2013, but Border Patrol data show that there have been more than 85,000 UACs apprehended at the border over the same period of time.

In an op-ed published on the Daily Signal, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin explained the impact the Obama Administration's relocation of illegal aliens from the border has had on her state coffers. Fort Sill in Oklahoma was one of the first facilities reported to have received illegal aliens during the ongoing border surge along the U.S.-Mexico border. Despite claims from the Administration that states will be reimbursed for any expenses, Gov. Fallin said that many simply get forgotten and absorbed into the local communities.

The House of Representatives adjourns for its month-long August recess later today, but before it does, it will vote on H.R.5230, its emergency supplemental border bill. The bill gives Pres. Obama $659 million to deal with the border surge, but doesn't address the cause of the problem -- his executive amnesties and promises of future amnesties. In the Senate, GOP Senators are pushing Majority Leader Harry Reid for a vote on the House bill as well.

More than 25 groups, including NumbersUSA, signed a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) urging him to force Pres. Obama to use the resources that are already at his disposal in response to the ongoing border crisis. At least 240,000 illegal aliens have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border this year, including 50,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children. Pres. Obama has asked Congress for nearly $4 billion in emergency funding - much of which wouldn't be used until FY2015 and would go towards the caring for and relocation of illegal aliens.

Later today, Pres. Obama will meet with leaders from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala - the three countries that are sending the most illegal-alien children to the United States during the ongoing border surge. But in advance of that meeting, Honduran President, Juan Orlando Hernández, offered his opinion on what caused the surge - the Obama Administration's lax immigration enforcement policies.

The House working group, formed by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and led by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), has released their recommendations for solving the ongoing crisis along the Southwest border, including the deployment of the National Guard, a change to the 2008 human trafficking law, the establishment of repatriation centers in the sending countries, and permission for Border Patrol agents to operate on federal lands. The group has not offered legislative language, which can often be much different from a set of principles.

Here's a list of the group's recommendations:

Only $25 million of Pres. Obama's $3.7 billion emergency funding request in response to the illegal-alien border surge would be spent in fiscal year 2014, according to an analysis of the proposal from the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO projected that the $25 million would be spent by the Department of Health and Human Services for the housing, care, and relocation of illegal-alien families, not the Department of Homeland Security that's tasked with securing the border.

Julio Ligorria, the Guatemalan ambassador to the United States, said the surge of Guatemalan children traveling to the U.S. is not due to violence, as the Obama Administration has suggested. Appearing on the Univision Sunday talk show "Al Punto" he said the surge is the result of: an interest in being with their parents; few opportunities at home; and the claims of smugglers who promise illegal-alien parents in the U.S. that the government will deliver their children.