Kerry warns U.S. will deport undocumented Central American children By Patricia Zengerle
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/01/us-usa-immigration-children-centralameri-idUSKBN0F64Y520140701
"We obviously understand people who want to do better, and who look for a better life," Kerry said as he met leaders from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, countries from which tens of thousands of children have fled to the United States in recent months.
"But at the same time, there are rules of law, and there is a process and there is false information that is being spread about benefits that might be available to these young people who are looking for that better life," he added.
Tens of thousands of children from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are showing up illegally, often without parents, at the Texas border. Their numbers could reach 90,000 this year and 150,000 next - up from only about 6,000 in 2011.
U.S. officials stressed that they consider the crisis humanitarian, citing the danger facing children traveling thousands of miles in the hands of smugglers. "The lives of children cannot be put at risk this way," Kerry said.
However, Washington also wants Central American countries to do more to fix their economies, for example by integrating their trade, State Department officials said.
"Until the Central Americans really get past some of the arguing among themselves and focusing on going it alone ... they're not going to overcome these problems," one said.
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