According to a Washington Times article, of the more than 57,000 children who have arrived at the U.S. border since October, only 1,254 have been returned home. Meanwhile, the flow of illegals is only going to get worse. Last week in a meeting of presidents, Mexico and Guatemala agreed to make it easier for Central Americans to travel through Mexico en route to the U.S.

Texas governor Rick Perry expresses compassion for the children housed in detention centers, but there is nothing humane, he maintains, about encouraging more young children to be separated from their families as they travel to a foreign country. As Governor Perry notes, the children are “in extreme danger on every step of the journey, clinging to the tops and sides of trains and at the mercy of smugglers. Letting them stay means more will follow.”

To help stop the flow, Governor Perry has requested that the Obama administration deploy 1,000 National Guard troops to the border to help with security until more Border Patrol officers can be hired, trained and deployed. Mr. Perry also would use drones to monitor illegal activity along the border and to track those responsible. And clearly, it is essential that Mr. Obama and Congress modify a 2008 law that unintentionally makes it harder to deport those illegals from South American countries.

Why hasn’t President Obama bothered visiting the Texas border instead of flying around the country to play golf and to fund raise? As Rick Perry writes here in The WSJ, “It’s also far past time for him (Obama) to see the effects of Washington’s disastrous policies firsthand. He should visit the border and the overcrowded detention centers, then maybe the urgent need to act will become clear.”