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Biden on Border Crisis: 'These are our kids'

Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday said the stream on unaccompanied minors who have crossed the southern border “are our kids.”
Image: US-AFRICA-SUMMIT
Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the Civil Society Forum on the sideline of the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, DC, on August 4, 2014. Washington aims to wake up US business to the opportunities in Africa with the landmark US-Africa Leaders Summit this week, as China and Europe steal a march on the world's fastest-growing continent. As many as four dozen African leaders, and hundreds of businessmen with them, will for their part be looking to see if US investors and traders can move beyond old stereotypes of a continent mired in conflict and corruption and recognize its huge potential. JEWEL SAMAD / AFP - Getty Images

Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday said the stream on unaccompanied minors who have crossed the southern border “are our kids” and solving the humanitarian crisis “is really hard stuff.”

“These are not somebody else’s kids, these are our kids,” Biden said. “These are the children that lift the national ambitions of each of these countries aloft. And it is a tragedy for countries who are losing them and for us not being able to solve every one of their problems”

The vice president’s remarks came in front of attorneys and legal groups gathered to discuss ways to represent the thousands of Central American children who have illegally entered the U.S. Many, Biden said, will be sent back to conditions worse than the temporary housing they are currently living in.

“Even if we passed the immigration bill, it wouldn't solve it all. Even if we had the resources we asked for, it wouldn't solve it all,” he said. "This is just hard stuff."

IN-DEPTH

-- Andrew Rafferty