I know that this is a complicated situation. No, I don’t think we should simply open our borders and let anyone in who can reach a portal into the United States. Yes, I think an orderly and measured immigration policy is appropriate. I understand that we need to work with El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala to discourage migration north, but that won’t happen until the violence and ever-present danger in those countries subsides. In 2011, Honduras had a murder rate five times that of Iraq. Military-style weapons are readily available from North American-provided stockpiles of weaponry from the 80s and 90s. We might start by trying to stem the sale of arms to those who are perpetrating the violence in the first place.

In the meantime, there are these children at our border. Most of them do not speak English. Most of them do not understand—or even know enough to ask for—asylum. If they do ask for asylum, they don’t have any idea how to navigate the cumbersome legal process for acquiring that status. And we don’t have enough people to assist them in their rightful claims as refugees and asylum seekers (part of what the president’s request would help fund). How can the answer be “send them back to the violence from which they came” where they will undoubtedly be harmed?