House leader tells Obama to send US troops to border to stem surge of unaccompanied minors

WASHINGTON – The leader of the U.S. House of Representatives is urging President Barack Obama to send troops to the Mexican border to help deal with the surge of unaccompanied minors from Central America.

In a letter to the president Friday, speaker John Boehner calls the situation a “national security and humanitarian crisis” of Obama’s making and says the president must act.

He says the troops could help ensure the safety of the children and their families. He also says the State Department should work with Central American nations to make sure their people know of the dangers of heading north.

The Border Patrol says the number of minors coming from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras has soared more than 1,000 per cent. It’s increasingly a political problem for the Obama administration.