Mexican official: Central American children no threat to Texas

(07-22) 18:39 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Mexico Foreign Minister José Antonio Meade Kuribreña on Tuesday challenged Texas Gov. Rick Perry's characterization of the flow of Central American children into the U.S. as an "assault" on Americans and their security.

"There's a need to respond to the upsurge in minors, but I don't see how the upsurge of minors threatens the security of the U.S. - and I certainly don't see how it threatens the security of Texas," Meade said in an appearance at The Chronicle's editorial board. "There's a need for a response. ... That response should have a high level of humanitarian concerns within it.

"To pose (the issue) as a security threat is missing the dynamics" behind the migration, he said, including violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador that has left thousands of children in need of help.

It also ignores the potential for countries affected by the migration to work together to solve it, he said.

Meade noted that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced a program last week to try to improve security along Mexico's border with Guatemala, as well as to thwart gangs preying on Guatemalan children, to help cut the flow of unaccompanied minors heading for the U.S.

He said much is at stake: The U.S. and Mexico do $1 million in trade daily, he said, and political leaders must also "be talking about how to make the border more dynamic."

Meade made his comments in reaction to Perry's declaration that he will deploy as many as 1,000 National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border in the next month to counter what he called Washington's "lip service and empty promises" in dealing with migrants from Central America.

"I will not stand idly by while our citizens are under assault and little children from Central America are detained in squalor," the Texas governor said.

Perry, considered a likely 2016 Republican presidential candidates, has repeatedly raised the issue of undocumented child migration in recent weeks.

Since October, more than 57,000 unaccompanied children and teenagers have entered the U.S. illegally, although White House officials have said that the flood has slowed markedly in recent weeks.