U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, says the United States should provide financial assistance to Mexico to help secure its borders and slow the flow of thousands of immigrants.
The McAllen Monitor reported Cornyn's comments on Saturday. He says some 47,000 immigrants have been apprehended along the southwest U.S.-Mexico border this fiscal year, and that the number is expected to exceed 60,000 by the end of September.
In recent weeks, Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley have been overwhelmed by unaccompanied Central American minors crossing into the United States.
Cornyn says in a conference call that the 500-mile Guatemalan-Mexican border "is a sieve." He says when immigrants enter territories controlled by drug cartels it becomes "a dangerous and deadly ... journey."
Copyright AP - Associated Press
