New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie blamed the Obama administration for the influx of immigrant children at the southern border, but unlike other governors, he did not rule out the prospect of accepting children in New Jersey on a case-by-case basis, CNN reported.
"I have great empathy for that situation, but frankly the administration has done an awful job in securing our border, and they need to do that," Christie told reporters in Marion, Iowa, where he campaigned Thursday for incumbent Gov. Terry Branstad. "I don't think ... it matters one bit what your Hispanic population is, as to whether or not you're going to offer help and assistance," he continued. "So we'll take every request that comes based on its merits and make those decisions."
He added that it "deserves a much deeper and thoughtful conversation" and blamed both parties for inaction on the issue. He also stressed that he doesn't want to "participate in encouraging this," but added "we are an empathetic people in this country and we don't like seeing people suffer."
The governor's comments are a surprising departure from several other governors who have declined to house immigrants during the border crisis.
Since last October, at least 57,000 unaccompanied minors, most from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, have been caught illegally crossing the southwest border of the United States, with officials expecting at least 150,000 more to do so next year. Additionally, since Obama unilaterally enacted his temporary amnesty act in 2012, the number of illegal immigrant children unlawfully entering the country has increased.
All sides agree that it's become a humanitarian crisis with the federal government struggling to manage the influx. However, as the U.S. government struggles to process and accommodate the surge of immigrants, Obama's harshest critics on the right have intensified their calls of impeachment over the new immigration crisis and his $3.7 billion emergency funding proposal to address the situation.
Christie, a potential White House contender, further fueled speculation about his 2016 ambitions with is visit to Iowa by slamming the federal government for refusing to deal with immigration reform "in any meaningful way."
But he insisted that he has made no decision about his political future. "The decision to seek the presidency or not is such a deeply personal one," Christie told reporters. "While it's wonderful to get as much encouragement as I got inside here and in other places in Iowa, to consider running I've said the same thing to everyone: I'll decide at some point whether I'm going to or not, but that's a really personal decision."
