As early as June 18th, Senator Warner called on the Administration to demand accountability from Central American countries these children and young people are fleeing. Senator Warner strongly urges the President to hold the leaders of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador responsible for reversing this exodus of unaccompanied young people by working aggressively to stop the violence that leads many of these children to flee.

In addition to tackling this problem at its source, Senator Warner also is willing to look at existing U.S. laws to see if there’s a better way to address this crisis at the border. However, he is not willing to provide the Administration with a blank check. Additional resources should be used to provide more immigration judges and legal advocates at the border. This should allow most cases to be heard in weeks, not months, and allow for the quick return home for many of these young people.

Senator Warner also believes the border crisis clearly demonstrates the need for a comprehensive immigration fix such as the bipartisan bill that passed the Senate a year ago. It would double the number of border patrol agents, and take further significant steps to secure our border. So far, the House of Representatives has refused to consider the Senate’s bipartisan immigration reform package.