Representative James Lankford (R-OK) said that the 2008 anti-human trafficking law signed by President Bush does not prevent the US government from deporting most of the unaccompanied minors crossing the border in an appearance on Tuesday’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto” on the Fox News Channel. “The president’s hiding behind a 2008 law…if they have a parent in the United States, that law does not connect. If they are an unaccompanied alien child, only if they don’t have a parent with them or a parent in the United States, we now learn that the majority of the children coming across the border already have one or both parents in the United States,” Lankford said. And “the vast majority of them, they have one or both parents in the United States.”
He also reported that “upwards of 90% have a close relative here whether that be a brother, or sister, or aunt, or uncle, grandparent,” and that these unaccompanied minors do not count as asylum-seekers escaping violence. Regarding the cost of transporting these unaccompanied minors throughout the US, Lankford reported that it would be cheaper to fly these children home first class with an escort.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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