FORT SILL, Okla. (AP) — A Republican congresswoman from Tennessee says the U.S. should cut aid to countries that are home to thousands of children who have crossed the border illegally to pay for the cost of caring for them.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn made the comments Saturday after touring a temporary shelter at the Fort Sill Army Post near Lawton where more than 1,100 of the children are housed. Republican Rep. Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma also toured the facility.
Blackburn says Central American countries that the child immigrants are fleeing should be forced to bear the cost of paying for them while they remain in the U.S.
Blackburn says she opposes President Barack Obama's call for $3.7 billion in emergency funding to strengthen the border. She says Congress has already appropriated money for border control.