The Obama administration is seeking the ability to offer “voluntary removal” of undocumented children from Central America back to their home countries, which the trafficking law now prohibits. Republicans also are demanding the change as one of the conditions for approving $3.7 billion in emergency funding to deal with the surge of children on the border.

This idea has raised alarm bells among immigration and refugee advocates, who say voluntary removal is often coerced from vulnerable children. They believe the border patrol is ill equipped to handle the sometimes difficult interviews with kids who have taken a long and difficult journey fleeing violence at home.

Some Democrats agree with the advocates, and the controversy could set up a legislative battle that could delay the funding request until September. That would put the Department of Homeland Security into a funding crisis. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson told the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday that border funding would run out in August…

The American Immigration Lawyers Association vehemently disagrees. The group says the trafficking law should actually be changed in the opposite direction. The group says that the Mexican “loophole” should be closed such that all unaccompanied children who are apprehended at the border are placed into the custody of the Health and Human Services Department. “There is no valid reason for treating vulnerable unaccompanied children differently based on their country of origin. All children should receive careful and robust screening and protection to ensure their safety and well-being,” the group said in statement sent to Congress.