Legal, political hurdles debated in border crisis

washington » The legal, humanitarian and political constraints facing the Obama administration as it copes with thousands of Central American children entering the country illegally came into sharp focus in a series of interviews Sunday.

AGeorgeW. Bush-era law to address human trafficking prevents the government from returning the children to their home countries without taking them into custody and eventually through a deportation hearing. Minors fromMexico and Canada, by contrast, can be sent across the border more easily. The administration says it wants more flexibility under the law.

Even if Congress agrees, the change might do little to ease the partisan quarreling and complex logistical and humanitarian challenges surrounding the issue.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Sunday the administration has dramatically sped the processing of adults who enter the country illegally, and it is opening more detention facilities. He acknowledged that the unaccompanied children fromCentralAmerica, about 9,700 taken into custody in May alone, pose the most vexing problem.

All persons, regardless of age, face “a deportation proceeding” if they are caught entering the country illegally, Johnson said. The administration, he said, is “looking at ways to create additional options for dealing with the children in particular, consistent with our laws and our values.”

Several Republicans, and even a Democrat, said the administration has reacted too slowly and cautiously to the crisis.

More than 50,000 unaccompanied minors have been caught on the U.S.-Mexico border this year. Most are from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, where violence and poverty are prompting parents to send their children on difficult and dangerous journeys north. Their numbers have overwhelmed federal agencies.

“This is a failure of diplomacy. It is a failure of leadership fromthe administration,” said Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who sought the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, DTexas, said the administration “is one step behind” a major dilemma that was foreseeable. The number of children coming from Central America without adults has been rising dramatically for several years.

President Barack Obama is askingCongress formore money and authority to send the children home, even as he also seeks ways to allow millions of other people already living in the U.S. illegally to stay.

Johnson spoke on NBC’s “Meet the Press”; Perry appeared on ABC’s “This Week”; and Cuellar made comments on CNN’s “State of the Union.”