Obama resists calls to visit border during Texas trip

President Obama's two-day trip to Texas this week was scheduled for two purposes: so the presidentcould talk to Texans about the economy and to attend Democratic fundraisers.

Plans have changed, however, as Washington attempts to address the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. In the past couple of days, the White House set up a Wednesday meeting betweenMr. Obama, Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, and local Dallas officials to discuss the situation at the border.

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Still, Mr. Obama so far is ignoring growing calls from both Democrats and Republicans to make hisfirst trip to the border since May 2011.

"To his credit, President Obama has come to Texas in the past years to help us mourn tragedies suchas Fort Hood," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Tuesday, "which makes it all the more inexplicablewhy he would refuse to carve out just one hour out of his fundraising schedule in Texas over the nexttwo days to come to the border at the sight of what he calls a humanitarian crisis."

While several administration officials have traveled to the border to assess the situation, Cornynsaid, "He really needs to go there himself... He needs to lead and not just follow when it comes tocoming up with solutions."

Several Democrats have made similar assertions.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said on Fox News Monday that Mr. Obama could be facing his own"Katrina moment" if he refuses to visit the border facilities housing Central American children.

"I'm sure that President Bush thought the same thing, that he could just look at everything from upin the sky," he said.

Two other Democrats who represent Texas districts on the U.S.-Mexico border, Reps. RubenHinojosa and Filemon Vela, sent Mr. Obama a letter last week, urging him to assess the situationfirsthand.

"To fully comprehend what is happening in our region, one must see this firsthand because one willcertainly be impacted by the humanitarian side of this issue," Hinojosa said in a statement. "Weknow the President is committed to helping all that he can and has already taken aggressive steps.Now we would like for him to see what the needs are for the refugees, our federal agents and ourvolunteers. More work needs to be done."

In response to Cuellar's remarks, White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Tuesday insisted that theadministration is taking an "aggressive approach... to confronting this problem." The White Houseearlier in the day announced it is asking Congress for $3.7 billion so that the Departments ofHomeland Security (DHS), Justice, State, and Health and Human Services (HHS) can deal with theissue. Earnest has also pointed out that several senior administration officials, including DHSSecretary Jeh Johnson, HHS Secretary Sylvia Mary Mathews Burwell, and Cecilia Munoz, thedirector of the White House Domestic Policy Council, have all recently traveled there.

Last week, responding specifically to Perry's suggestion that the president visit the border, theWhite House was more dismissive of the idea. Perry said the White House's decision to skip the tripshowed a "lack of concern" about the issue. Earnest shot back that if Perry really wants to help, heshould encourage congressional Republicans to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

"The truth is, it's hard to take seriously Governor Perry's concerns when everybody who's taken alook at this understands that if we wanted to send a clear signal about our seriousness of purposewhen it comes to addressing some of the problems in our immigration system, that the easiest wayto do that is to pass the common sense immigration reform proposal that already has passed throughthe Senate with bipartisan support," he said.

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On CBS News "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., similarly came to thepresident's defense and called out Republicans for not supporting comprehensive immigrationreform, while Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, asked, "What would be the point in the presidentgoing" to the border?

Earnest on Tuesday suggested that a trip to the border would amount to little more than a photo-op."What we are focused on right now are not political statements that would be made with anappearance, but rather with specific, concrete action -- steps that can be taken to mitigate thisproblem," he said.

Former White House aide Bill Burton told CBS News that Mr. Obama has been criticized since hecame into office for "not playing the Washington game."

"The president doesn't bend to political optics all that much," he said. "It's something he's beenroundly criticized for, but not something that's going to change in the twilight of his second term."

He added, "Any decision that gets made is based on whether or not it can actually help thesituation."

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To help the situation, Mr. Obama did decide to meet Wednesday in Dallas with nonprofit and faithleaders, and others who have been mobilizing resources to help meet the humanitarian needs of thechildren crossing the border.

Some immigration advocates, however, aren't quite ready to trust the president's response to thecrisis. Gustavo Torres, executive director of Casa de Maryland, told CBS News' Major Garrett thathis organization isn't yet supporting the $3.7 billion plan the White House put forward.

"We are not supporting those resources if the administration doesn't provide to us evidence thatthey are going to treat the kids as human beings, as victims, that they are going to have legalservices, that they are going to provide legal assistance and emotional assistance," he said.

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