The Obama administration moved Friday to stem a flood of Central American children and families that has overwhelmed the U.S. immigration system, dispatching Vice President Joe Biden to the region to warn against the perils of the trip and announcing that it will start to detain families at the border instead of releasing them on their own recognizance, according to AP. After weeks of insistence that criminal violence was responsible for the surge of Central American migrants, the U.S. has begun a regional public-relations campaign to fight the widespread belief in Central America that children and families will be allowed to stay in the U.S. if they are caught by the Border Patrol. That belief has been fueled both by migrant smugglers seeking more clients, and by calls home from children and families who have been released by the tens of thousands in recent years, with notices to appear in immigration court, because there are no facilities to hold them. The administration said Friday that it was opening detention centers to house families, although it did not release details. Biden was expected to discuss the change in Guatemala City, where he was meeting with President Otto Perez Molina, Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren and high-ranking ministers from Honduras and Mexico. While Biden planned to emphasize the dangers of northbound migration and the probability that migrants would be deported, the Central American leaders planned to ask Biden for a series of measures meant to ease migrants' paths to the U.S. -- SPA 20:22 LOCAL TIME 17:22 GMT تغريد
