How can the Obama administration take a hard line in enforcing its immigration policy while still appearing sympathetic to immigrants from Central America seeking refugee status?
That’s the conundrum the White House finds itself in. It appeared to be taking a tougher stance on immigration by resuming raids and deportations of some women and children back to Central America in recent weeks.
But that backfired after its own party accused the administration of sending a hypocritical message by accepting refugees from Syria but parsing semantics when it came to those fleeing places like Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
A week later, the administration appeared to be walking that tougher immigration stance back with Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to the region and announcement that the US would be creating a new refugee program specifically for Central American refugees. In the midst of it all, President Obama has found himself a curios foe to his own party and not-quite friend of the right.
Read the full story here.
Guests:
Royce Murray, policy director at the National Immigrant Justice Center, an immigrant advocacy group based in Chicago
Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies, Center for Immigration Studies, a D.C.-based organization that studies the impact of immigration on American society
Sonia Nazario, reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize with the Los Angeles Times for her coverage of unaccompanied migrants entering the U.S. illegally. She followed some of these children on their difficult journey north and wrote the book "Enrique's Journey." Nazario is also on the board of Kids in need of defense