Biden Calls on Legal Community to Help Young Migrants

The White House(WASHINGTON) — As President Obama considers his next move to stem the tide of undocumented immigrant children flooding into the U.S., Vice President Joe Biden is letting it be known that the administration has compassion for those caught in a political maelstrom.

Speaking to attorneys and legal groups at the White House Wednesday, Biden said that the 60,000 unaccompanied minors who came to the U.S. from Central America over the past year aren’t somebody else’s problem, calling them, “Our kids.”

The vice president acknowledged that many of the children will have to be returned to their homelands, but urged lawyers to make themselves available to them so that young migrants can receive proper legal representation during hearings.

Stressing the importance of helping those in need, Biden explained, “You’re not going to leave a kid, figuratively speaking, sitting at the doorstep. It’s kinda like, you know, in the old days in the Dickens’ tales, you know the baby in the basket, you knock on the door, it’s freezing outside, you walk away, you walk out, the baby’s in the basket…at the door. Decent American’s expect us to pick that basket up.”

While showing empathy for children who don’t have many options, Biden was less patient when a phone rang during his remarks, snapping at the person to turn off their phone.

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