Obama backs off border policy changes

President Barack Obama is holding off for now on seeking new legal authority to send unaccompanied migrant children back home faster from the US-Mexico border, following criticism that the administration’s planned changes were too harsh. Instead when Obama formally asks Congress for more than $ 2 billion in emergency spending on Tuesday to deal with the border crisis, the request will not be accompanied by the policy changes that the White House had indicated it planned to seek, according to two congressional aides. The aides spoke on Monday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak about the matter by name ahead of the announcement. White House officials said they still intend to pursue additional authorities to speed the return of the children who’ve been arriving by the thousands, mostly from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. But for now the White House request will focus on additional money for immigration judges, detention facilities, legal aid and other items that could address the situation on the border, which the administration has termed a humanitarian crisis. The new approach comes after the White House told Congress last week that it would seek ‘additional authority’ for the Homeland Security secretary to quickly return the minors back home. Immigration advocates understood this to mean that the children, who currently have the right to a hearing before an immigration judge, would lose that right and instead would have to make it through an initial screening with a Border Patrol agent. The immigrant advocacy community responded angrily, with more than 200 groups signing onto a letter last week calling on Obama to reconsider the changes, according to AP.