While the immigration debate has been centered on migrant children crossing the border over into the United States, Texas Gov. Rick Perry believes that the main concern should be the criminals who have been crossing over it.

On CNN's "State of the Union", Perry referred to this entry of unaccompanied minors going across the border as merely a "side issue".

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On the other hand, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) mentioned last Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" the need to address the "immediate crisis right now," which is the pressing issue on migrant children crossing the U.S. border.

Many politicians have expressed disapproval against the notion that more than 60,000 unaccompanied children are crossing into Texas, referring to such circumstances as a humanitarian crisis.

Excessive work demands in holding facilities along with difficulties in the taxation of the immigration system have been cited as factors that contribute to the high costs of the border situation.

Perry, however, is drawing attention towards criminal border-crossers, associating them with the increasing levels of homicide and sexual assaults. He also highlighted his decision of sending 1,000 National Guard troops to watch over the border and combat crime.

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) had put forward an approach that he had broken down into three steps to re-examine the process by which the immigration reform is being carried out.

Last Sunday on Fox News, the prospective 2016 presidential candidate explained how this 3-step approach can aid in achieving immigration-related goals.

Rubio cited the need to secure the border, increase the public's trust, revise legal immigration laws and focus more on a merit-based system in contrast to the conventional family-based system.

He also mentioned to host Chris Wallace the significance of facing the fact that more than nine million individuals are illegally residing in the country.

When asked about his sudden change of plans, Rubio insisted that he was merely outlining what needs to be done and how to do it, step by step.

Last Friday, House Republicans were able to pass a US$649 million border bill, the revised version of the US$2.7 billion emergency funding package that was put forward by Democrats in the Senate. However, the smaller bill was considered inadequate by the White House in terms of dealing with the crisis of unaccompanied children crossing the border.

TagsRick Perry, Marco Rubio, Fox News, US immigration crisis, US border crisis