Gov. Mike Pence didn’t mince words last week in a letter to President Barack Obama about his “profound concern about the federal government’s mishandling” of the rising number of unaccompanied Central American children crossing the U.S. border.
In particular, Pence was steamed that more than 200 of those children have found their way to the homes of sponsors in Indiana — a fact that wasn’t relayed to the Statehouse by anything more than media reports.
Pence’s proposed solution: “Those who have crossed our border illegally should be treated humanely and with decency and respect, but they should be returned expeditiously to their home countries to be reunited with their families rather than being dispersed around the United States in sponsored placement or long-term detention facilities.”
How much of Pence’s frustration is driven by executive duty in Indiana versus driven by desire for a potential presidential bid isn’t immediately clear. His critics latched on to the back half of that equation. But his letter was a decent example of the divide on the question about the country’s borders, in general, and about the kids showing up, in particular.
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