HOUSTON – Some business leaders as well as Republican leaders recognized National Immigration Reform Day Wednesday by calling on the U.S. government to come up with immigration reform to address what they said is an estimated 15 to 30 million undocumented immigrants who have arrived in the U.S. in the last 30 years.
Norm Adams of Texans for Sensible Immigration Policy said, "There is no question, these children, we must treat them humanely but they have to go home. Keeping these children in this country is not part of immigration reform. They have to go home."
Democratic candidate for governor, State Senator Wendy Davis, visited Houston Wednesday. She says she has seen the immigration problem along the border first-hand. She says the federal government needs to spend $3.7 billion to make the border more secure.
Davis said, "It shouldn't be a political issue. This is a humanitarian crisis. It's an issue that calls into question the security of our border as well. But we know that we now have thousands of children living in our communities, not only in Texas but who have been sent elsewhere that deserve our care while we consider what should be done."
Houston Mayor Annise Parker says this is a humanitarian problem. She says the federal government has only asked for help transferring immigrants at Bush Intercontinental Airport's Terminal D. Parker says there is currently no unused space in any city buildings.