Administration: Bush-era law requires us to slow-walk deportations

Feinstein’s law was never intended to deal with the volume of unaccompanied children crossing the border — perhaps 90,000 this year. Yet the administration insists that in this case it must follow the law to the letter, even if that means the vast majority of those entering the country end up staying. That clearly frustrated some Republicans who have become used to seeing the administration enforce the laws it likes and deal more selectively with laws it doesn’t like.

“I’ve been down to Nogales, where they have the large detention facility and I’ve seen the folks that we detained be debriefed, cleaned up, put on a bus and sent back,” Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama said to Johnson. “Why aren’t we doing that with these children?”

“Well, first of all, Nogales is being used as a processing center for the unaccompanied children,” Johnson answered. “They are leaving Nogales and they’re going to HHS custody for shelter and then placement.”

“Well, why aren’t we putting them on a bus like we normally do and sending them back down to Guatemala?” asked Rogers.

“Because the law requires that I turn them over to HHS, sir.”