On July 3, 2014, the Chief Border Patrol Agent of the Rio Grande Valley Sector —the region that has received the largest surge of unaccompanied minors— submitted written testimony to the House Committee on Homeland Security titled "Crisis on the Texas Border: Surge of Unaccompanied Minors." An open letter by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to parents of children crossing the Southwest border was also released.

In the open letter, Secretary Johnson stresses that "sending your child to travel illegally into the United States is not the solution." And that it is dangerous, not only because of the long journey itself but because the "criminal smuggling networks that you pay to deliver your child to the U.S. have no regard for his or her safety and well-being." To these groups, children are a commodity to be exchanged for money. Children are at risk of being traumatized and abused, beaten, starved, sexually assaulted, or sold into the sex trade. The letter warns that things will only get worse during the hot months of July and August, and that at the end of the journey there are no "permisos" or "free passes" into the U.S.

The letter stresses that all laws currently in place do not apply to any new or future arrivals, and only apply to children who arrived prior to June 15, 2007, and that all legislation currently being considered by Congress would only apply to certain people who arrived prior to December 31, 2011. Anyone currently apprehended at the border is a "priority for deportation", regardless of age, and the only document they will receive is not a "permiso" but a Notice to Appear for deportation proceedings before an immigration judge.

In this testimony, the Department details the efforts made to address the surge of unaccompanied children and what is planned to stem the increased tide of illegal migration to his Sector in a manner that is "consistent with our laws and values as Americans."

The testimony states that this issue goes beyond being a "matter of border security. We are talking about large numbers of children, without their parents, who have arrived at our border —hungry, thirsty, exhausted, scared and vulnerable. How we treat the children, in particular, is a reflection of our laws and values."

The testimony described the Department of Homeland Security's strategy to process the tide of unaccompanied children as quickly as possible, stem the tide, and do so consistently with American laws and values.

The strategy includes ensuring that the DHS, CBP, and ICE are operating at full capacity and drawing on additional resources. The Department is establishing the Unified Coordination Group to coordinate all federal assets in this effort, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Departments of Defense, Justice, State, and the General Services Administration, among other agencies. Voluntary and faith-based organizations that are helping to manage the influx of children, including the American Red Cross are being coordinated.

Another priority is to establish added capacity to deal with processing and housing children. The surge arrived mostly in Texas and due to overcrowding the DHS transferred children to other processing centers in Nogales, Arizona, Lackland Air Force Base, Fort Sill Oklahoma, and Ventura California. After being processed they are to be transferred to HHS which will be in charge of placing them.

Spanish-speaking case management staff are being added to handle incoming calls from parents or guardians and to manage capacity to ensure that there are enough beds and other details for those arriving. Not-for-profit groups are also contributing to this effort.

DHS is building additional detention capacity for adults who cross with their children with the capacity to expedite removal of adults with children. The Department of Justice is reassigning immigration judges to handle additional caseload via video teleconferencing so that they may adjudicate these cases as quickly as possible, including those for asylum applicants following credible fear interviews. This is designed to return migrants from Central America home more quickly.

More transportation assets, including loans from the coast guard to transport children by air are being brought in. The Department is conducting public health screenings for arrivals and ensuring nutritional and hygienic needs of children in custody. Children with illness or disease receive medical care.

To stem the tide of children, DHS has contacted senior government officials in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico to address this issue and the underlying conditions promoting this mass exodus, and how to go about expedited and secure repatriation. The U.S. will be providing a range of assistance to the region, including $9.6 million in funding to Central American governments to repatriate citizens, and a new fund of $40 million dollars to Guatemala to improve citizen security. An additional $161.5 million will be provided to the Central American Regional Security Initiative to respond to the region's security and governance challenges.

The DHS and Department of Justice have added personnel and funding to investigate, prosecute, and dismantle smuggling organization that facilitate border crossings. Targeted enforcement operations are already being conducted in El Paso, Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio, and San Diego and has resulted in the arrest of 163 smugglers.

Additionally, they will be intensifying public campaigns in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, in radio, print, and TV to communicate the dangers of sending unaccompanied children to the U.S. and putting them in the hands of criminal smuggling groups and to counter misperceptions that smuggler groups are disseminating about immigration benefits in the U.S., as expressed in the open letter.

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