WASHINGTON, DC— The President has asked Congress for $3.73 billion in emergency appropriations to address the growing humanitarian crisis of unaccompanied children crossing the Southwest border and Rio Grande from Central America.  Today, after a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing to examine the President’s emergency supplemental funding request, U.S. Senator Jack Reed issued the following statement:

“Clearly, we need additional resources at the border to address the humanitarian needs of these children, strengthen security, and go after bad actors such as traffickers and smugglers.  We can’t allow these children to be exploited.

“The bottom line is we need comprehensive immigration reform and the House Republican leadership is doing a disservice to this nation by blocking bipartisan solutions.  The Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill over a year ago with an overwhelming two-thirds majority.  It included $46 billion to improve border security and created an earned pathway to citizenship.

“Today, emergency funds are needed to bring order to a humanitarian crisis involving children.  But the House leadership needs to stop ignoring this problem.  Their inaction will not make it go away.  We need bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform.”

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