Residents resisting their towns housing new child immigrants
About 40 undocumented immigrants are back in Central America this morning after being detained at a facility in New Mexico.
Immigration and customs officials say it's part of an effort to combat the recent surge of illegal immigrants across the Mexican border.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are crafting a bill they hope will provide another solution, CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reports.
Dozens of women and children arrived back in Honduras Monday, in what federal officials say will be the first of a wave of deportation flights from the U.S.
But with thousands of kids still in legal limbo, federal officials are trying to house some of them in states far from the U.S.-Mexico border. And resistance is growing.
"It would be a burden to the city and a burden to the residents," said Tamyra Murray, a Michigan protester.
In Vassar, Michigan, about 50 people demonstrated in front of Wolverine Human Services, a juvenile facility in talks to temporarily shelter as many as 120 unaccompanied minors from Central America.
"We are not against legal immigration," said Jeff McQueen, another protester. "What we are against is illegal immigration."
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad isn't prepared to welcome the children to his state,either.
"I do have empathy for these kids, but I also don't want to send the signal that 'send your kids to America illegally' -- that's not the right message."
Since October, tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors have fled their home countries, the sheer numbers overwhelming border security and raising concerns from California to Capitol Hill.
Two Texans, Republican Sen. John Cornyn and Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar, are hoping to speed up the deportation process by sending at least 40 more immigration judges to border towns.
Their bill calls for unaccompanied minors to have a preliminary hearing within seven days, and be sent home immediately if a judge rules they do not qualify for asylum or some other special status.
The bill comes as the White House is trying to get Congress to sign off on a $3.7 billion emergency spending request to deal with the growing crisis.