[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 486 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 486

  Expressing the sense of the Senate that President Obama should take 
    immediate action to mitigate the humanitarian crisis along the 
  international border between the United States and Mexico involving 
      unaccompanied migrant children and to prevent future crises.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 26, 2014

  Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Coats, Mr. Boozman, and Mr. 
 McCain) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the Senate that President Obama should take 
    immediate action to mitigate the humanitarian crisis along the 
  international border between the United States and Mexico involving 
      unaccompanied migrant children and to prevent future crises.

Whereas there is a growing humanitarian crisis along the international border 
        between the United States and Mexico;
Whereas the United States welcomes lawful immigrants and has established 
        appropriate channels for the lawful admission of refugees;
Whereas, since October 2013, officials in the Department of Homeland Security 
        have apprehended more than 47,000 unaccompanied migrant children after 
        they crossed that border without legal authorization;
Whereas the majority of these children have arrived in the United States through 
        the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas but the effects of this surge in 
        illegal immigration have been felt across the United States;
Whereas this surge in illegal immigration has undermined the ability of the 
        Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies to 
        protect the United States from criminal and national security threats;
Whereas the vast majority of these children have traveled to the United States 
        from countries in Central America, a journey of more than 1,000 miles 
        that traverses some of the most dangerous territory in the Western 
        Hemisphere and smuggling routes operated by drug cartels and other 
        transnational criminal organizations;
Whereas these transnational criminal organizations routinely commit acts of 
        human trafficking, sexual assault, exploitation, kidnapping, and 
        homicide against children who are the victims of their human smuggling 
        operations;
Whereas children making this journey face other grave dangers such as riding on 
        top of crowded railroad cars, dehydration, heat exposure, and drowning;
Whereas it is unknown how many children making this journey have perished or 
        become victims of violent crime while traveling to the United States;
Whereas it is the duty of the United States Government to identify and provide 
        humanitarian relief to any unaccompanied migrant child who is--

    (1) the victim of a crime;

    (2) a refugee;

    (3) an asylee; or

    (4) eligible for any other form of immigration relief under the 
immigration laws;

Whereas the current and previous administration, each headed by a President 
        belonging to a different political party, have failed to adequately 
        secure the international border between the United States and Mexico and 
        enforce the immigration laws;
Whereas, beginning in 2010, President Obama and the Secretary of Homeland 
        Security announced a series of executive actions, public statements, and 
        enforcement decisions that have created a misperception outside of the 
        United States that children entering the United States without legal 
        authorization will receive relief from immigration enforcement 
        consequences;
Whereas these executive actions and the continuing failures of President Obama 
        and the Secretary of Homeland Security to adequately secure the 
        international border between the United States and Mexico and enforce 
        the immigration laws are a proximate and material cause of the growing 
        humanitarian crisis along the international border between the United 
        States and Mexico;
Whereas the failure of the United States Government to enforce the immigration 
        laws has undermined trust in the commitment of the United States 
        Government to enforcing such laws;
Whereas the Senate must do everything in its power to mitigate the growing 
        humanitarian threat along the international border between the United 
        States and Mexico and to prevent additional unaccompanied migrant 
        children from making the dangerous journey to the United States; and
Whereas this cannot be accomplished until President Obama has demonstrated to 
        people of the United States that he is serious about stopping this 
        humanitarian crisis and preventing similar crises in the future by 
        enforcing the immigration laws: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that President Obama 
should--
            (1) publicly declare that no deferred action program 
        granting relief from immigration enforcement shall apply to any 
        unaccompanied migrant child who unlawfully enters the United 
        States;
            (2) publicly discourage people in Central America and 
        elsewhere from sending their children on a dangerous journey 
        through Mexico to the United States;
            (3) begin fully enforcing the immigration laws;
            (4) ensure that each State that is affected by the surge in 
        unaccompanied migrant children entering the United States has 
        the resources needed by that State to address this crisis while 
        ensuring that such children are treated humanely; and
            (5) work with the Government of Mexico and the governments 
        of countries in Central America to improve security along the 
        international borders between Mexico and Guatemala, and Mexico 
        and Belize.
                                 <all>