William Petroski

bpetrosk@dmreg.com

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is criticizing President Barack Obama's administration for failing to inform Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad that at least 139 immigrant children have been sent to Iowa who were detained by the Border Patrol after crossing the border from Mexico.

Grassley said he doesn't believe the nation's governors should have authority to veto the arrival of immigrant children, but it's appropriate for federal officials to notify them if immigrant children are being placed in their states.

He blasted Obama for a lack of information, calling the Democratic president "the most stonewalling president of any president in the history of the country."

Staffers for Grassley and Gov. Terry Branstad confirmed this week that the immigrant children have been sent to Iowa by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But that information came only after inquiries were made by news organizations, and Grassley said no additional information has been provided by federal officials. He is co-sponsoring federal legislation requiring governors to be notified before the children are sent to states.

"Obviously there will be some responsibility of the state treasury" through government health care programs and other programs for needy people, Grassley told Iowa reporters Wednesday in his weekly telephone conference call. "You also ought to know about it from a public health standpoint" to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, he added.

"I think that what you want to do is that everything is transparent about it," Grassley added. But unfortunately, he said, the Obama administration has not cooperated with inquiries from Congress about where the immigrant children are being sent, and what is the cost to American taxpayers. He expressed concerns that taxpayers could be paying as much as $250 to $1,000 a day per child to take care of the children.

Grassley rapped Obama over the issue, saying, "The president that has said he is going to be the most transparent in the history of the country -- by his own standard -- ends up being the most stonewalling president of any president in the history of the country."

The White House did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment from The Des Moines Register in reaction to Grassley's remarks.

Asked if it is a good idea for Texas Gov. Rick Perry to call up National Guard troops for deployment to the U.S.-Mexican border, Grassley replied, "Of course." He noted that National Guard troops have been deployed on the border in the past, and he said that enforcing the nation's immigration laws is something that can't be argued with.

More than 57,000 children have flooded across the U.S.-Mexican border since Oct. 1, mostly from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Many are fleeing gang violence and poverty, officials said.