--- title: Democratic Congressman Confronts Obama on Child Migrant Crisis description: At a meeting Wednesday, the President was sympathetic, but non-committal on Democratic plans to deal with the border crisis. canonical: https://time.com/3002682/child-immigration-border-crisis-obama-lujan/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-18T15:59:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:01:05.339Z article:section: Politics og:title: Democratic Congressman Confronts Obama on Child Migrant Crisis og:description: At a meeting Wednesday, the President was sympathetic, but non-committal on Democratic plans to deal with the border crisis. og:url: https://time.com/3002682/child-immigration-border-crisis-obama-lujan/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt108552aaa8673ba4/69869c57e8524b16d6603f42/467312285.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Democratic Congressman Confronts Obama on Child Migrant Crisis twitter:description: At a meeting Wednesday, the President was sympathetic, but non-committal on Democratic plans to deal with the border crisis. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt108552aaa8673ba4/69869c57e8524b16d6603f42/467312285.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Democrat To Obama: You Must Hear the Stories of Child Migrants > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e497f8f6-631a-4cc3-81f3-1ceb4515e2f3&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Monday to Saturday (3x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Subscribers | 85,000 | TIME, August 2026 | | Open rate | 37.0% | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Philip Elliott, Senior Correspondent | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership The policy influence ecosystem. A policy-focused audience spanning government, public affairs, advocacy, law, research, political media, and the institutions that make, interpret and respond to public policy. ### TIME D.C. Brief: key statements * D.C. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Obama Going Rogue on Immigration Reform [Watch (HLS stream): Obama Going Rogue on Immigration Reform](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zfq4B8AM.m3u8) (3:42)  _Published 2014-06-30. Obama scolds congress inaction as he announces immigration executive orders._ by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Jul 18, 2014 3:59 PM UTC  Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., speaks during a news conference on Feb. 6, 2014. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., speaks during a news conference on Feb. 6, 2014. Tom Williams—CQ Roll Call/Getty Images by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Jul 18, 2014 3:59 PM UTC On Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat from New Mexico, tried to bring the human face of the ongoing border crisis alive to President Barack Obama in a meeting at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House, according to two Congressmen present. “To not hear these stories is to make these kids disappear,” Luján says he told the President and the beginning of the meeting. He then cited the Pope’s call for action on the immigration crisis earlier this week, and recounted three news reports of kidnapped, beaten and killed children and journalists. Luján also told a story of his own, one he says was shared with him by two nuns who worked with unaccompanied migrant children at Catholic Charities in Honduras. The nuns told Luján a child was being recruited by one of the local gangs there when the parents intervened, the Congressman recounted. “\[The gang\] not only killed the child, they killed the parents,” Luján said. “They left them on display for everyone to see.” The President, who has not visited the border, reacted sympathetically to Luján’s stories, according to Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), who was at the meeting as a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which had requested time with the president. “The horror of what is going on—you could just feel it in the room,” said Sanchez. “\[The President\] said, ‘Look as a father I understand that completely. Those children’s lives are no less valuable than my own.’” The President, however, did not back down from his insistence that Congress make changes to a 2008 law that would allow for a speedier deportation of children from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. The Administration estimates that the Administration will apprehend as many as 90,000 unaccompanied minors at the border by the end of September. The White House did not respond for comment for this story. The Hispanic Caucus, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi support an approach where the President would use his current authority—and $3.7 billion—to address the crisis. The Democrats argue that the most humane response would be to quicken the current backlog of immigration cases through hiring more judges and adjusting current policy that would prioritize the children’s cases. “We don’t want to see a child return to the hands of sex traffickers because we were in a hurry to deal with the humanitarian crisis at the border,” Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) tells TIME. “I think \[Obama\] understands that. And as a caucus we have come to the position that we won’t vote for an appropriation bill…that undermines what children have.” Republicans have argued that the 2008 law—the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Action Act—needs to be changed to allow Border Patrol agents greater authority to screen and deport Central American children. Under the law, the Border Patrol is supposed to transfer these children within 72 hours to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services until their immigration cases are decided. House Speaker John Boehner and others have also argued for increased border security, including sending in the National Guard. Boehner indicated Thursday that the prospects of Republicans and Democrats forging an agreement by the end of July has taken a turn for the worse as Democrats have established their position on the 2008 law. “I can’t imagine our members are going to want to send more money down there without attempting to mitigate the problem at the border,” said Boehner. “I don’t have as much optimism as I’d like to have.” _Additional reporting by Zeke Miller/Washington_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3002682/child-immigration-border-crisis-obama-lujan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3002682/child-immigration-border-crisis-obama-lujan/"},"headline":"Democrat To Obama: You Must Hear the Stories of Child Migrants","datePublished":"2014-07-18T15:59:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:01:05.339Z","description":"At a meeting Wednesday, the President was sympathetic, but non-committal on Democratic plans to deal with the border crisis.","url":"https://time.com/3002682/child-immigration-border-crisis-obama-lujan/","keywords":["Immigration","Congress","John Boehner","President Barack Obama","Harry Reid","nancy pelosi","Border Patrol","border crisis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt108552aaa8673ba4/69869c57e8524b16d6603f42/467312285.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt108552aaa8673ba4/69869c57e8524b16d6603f42/467312285.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rep. 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