Congress Starts To Scramble On Border-Crisis Legislation

Explainer: What other solutions are out there? Immigrant analysts sound off. Esmé E. Deprez in Bloomberg.

Quick status update on legislation. "House Republicans are working to unveil by Friday their counteroffer to President Obama's initial $3.7 billion emergency spending request to stop undocumented, unaccompanied minors from crossing the southwestern border....[Separately], Republicans, and some Democrats, are coalescing around a bipartisan proposal to make it easier to return home unaccompanied minors who have crossed the U.S border, though there is strong Democratic opposition to the idea. A proposal unveiled Tuesday by Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, would amend a 2008 law to streamline how the U.S. processes minors, expediting court proceedings." Susan Davis in USA Today.

House GOP may halve Obama's $3.7B funding request. "No final decisions have been made, but the GOP legislation is also likely to include several policy changes, including revising a 2008 immigration law....The Obama administration has expressed openness to such a provision, though it worries many congressional Democrats. House Republicans are also discussing language that would make it easier for Border Patrol agents to pursue illegal migrants at the border. The Obama administration designated roughly 500,000 acres of land near the border as a national monument, which the GOP says hampers law enforcement." Jake Sherman and Seung Min Kim in Politico.

The Cornyn-Cuellar bill's biggest roadblock: Majority Leader Reid. "The Democratic Senate majority leader told reporters that he will oppose a proposal from Cornyn (R-Texas) and Cuellar (D-Texas)....Reid (D-Nev.) seemed unwilling to lay out a precise blueprint for how the chamber will move forward on the border crisis until senators speak to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and other top administration officials. But Reid clearly believes that President Barack Obama’s supplemental request of $3.7 billion for border funding is superior to Cuellar and Cornyn’s border plan — and he said the White House has sufficient authority to make policy changes to adjust the flow of migrants through the border through the executive office."Burgess Everett in Politico.

The U.N. secretly thinks revising this 2008 law may just expand a failing system. "A secret UN report obtained by Vox paints a very disturbing picture: the current process is totally failing to protect Mexican children from harm. Children who have reason to fear for their lives, or who are victims of human trafficking, are almost certainly being sent back into danger. And now Congress wants to use the process that's already failing to identify which Mexican children are being victimized, and expand it to Central American children fleeing the most dangerous places on earth." Dara Lind in Vox.

Other immigration reads:

Jose Antonio Vargas' detention casts spotlight on issue he championed. Molly Hennessy-Fiske in the Los Angeles Times.

Shocker: Nobody likes how Washington is dealing with the crisis. David Nakamura and Scott Clement in The Washington Post.