( CNN ) -- Heather Reynolds , the head of the nonprofit organization Catholic Charities , tells the story she heard from an 8-year-old girl from Guatemala who recently crossed the border without her family . `` These kids were taken by drug cartels and others and would arrive back at their neighbors ' dead with their organs cut out of them . Obviously , this little girl had seen stuff none of us could ever imagine . '' The little girl 's relatives hired a `` coyote '' to smuggle her into the United States . `` On her journey here , she was sold as a sex slave . Finally escaping , this 8-year-old crossed the Rio Grande , '' said Reynolds . The United States has a humanitarian crisis at its Southern border , as the number of unaccompanied children trying to enter the country has increased by 90 % over just last year . The Republicans are also trying to turn this into a political crisis by accusing the Obama administration and the push for immigration reform for enticing more undocumented immigrants . Once again , Republicans are bashing President Obama , this time by using suffering children as their political pawns . Every parent can imagine it 's not an easy decision to send your child with a stranger thousands of miles away to a foreign country . These are little kids , for crying out loud . That 's not something you do because you want to , it 's something you do because you have to . Escalating violence in Central America is driving the new wave of migrating children . As the Los Angeles Times reports , `` Although there has always been crushing poverty in Central America , violence in the region has escalated in recent years . For example , Honduras has the most murders per capita of any country . Drug cartels and gangs are at the root of the increased violence . Some of these children are fleeing gang initiations , according to several reports . '' While historically most of the children who came to the United States illegally were from Mexico , that changed in 2013 when for the first time the number of unaccompanied migrant children from Central America eclipsed those from Mexico . Actually , the number of undocumented kids coming from Mexico has decreased in recent years . Nonetheless , Republicans insist it 's Obama 's fault . Republican House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte said , `` Many of the Obama administration 's policies ... have led to a surge of minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border . '' Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner alleged the President 's `` lax enforcement at Mexico 's borders '' are giving a `` free pass '' to immigrants trying to come to the United States . These claims ignore the fact that President Obama has deported immigrants at a higher rate than President George W. Bush and is on track to have deported three million immigrants by the end of his presidency . One might call this rate of deportation inhumane or un-American , but no one could reasonably call it `` lax '' -- no one , that is , except Republicans fixated on attacking the President no matter what . Meanwhile , Republican Senator Jeff Sessions , implicating the President 's program of administrative relief for young immigrant `` dreamers '' brought to the United States as kids , accused the President of `` incentivizing '' unaccompanied children to migrate with the promise of `` citizenship for anyone in the world who arrives illegally in the country by a certain age . '' Sessions said , `` President Obama is responsible for this calamity . '' Yet , the increase in unaccompanied children escaping Central American began back in 2009 , long before President Obama 's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ( DACA ) program . And for those who think that the United States should be even more aggressive in how it addresses the cases of kids who arrive here unaccompanied , it 's worth noting that the current procedures for unaccompanied minors under our immigration system were created under President George W. Bush . Could the prospect of comprehensive immigration reform be part of the lure ? Perhaps , though in a study of 104 migrant children from El Salvador , only one mentioned the prospect of immigration reform as a motivation . The White House has announced new steps to address the violence and poverty in Central America that is pushing children to migrate , including providing $ 9.6 million to help Central American governments repatriate citizens and additional USAID funds to reduce crime and violence in the region . And if there is misinformation spreading in Central America about immigration relief for children crossing the border , possibly a deliberate misinformation campaign as White House sources suggest , the Obama administration will be actively working to counter this with correct information , including the fact that young people recently arriving in the United States do not qualify under DACA . Although Republicans will continue to use this issue and other excuses to try to destroy the prospects for immigration reform , Democrats and the White House should keep pushing for reform , including a comprehensive path to citizenship . Our government has made it incredibly treacherous to cross our borders . Yet , people still take the grave risk to do so in order to seek security and opportunity . Currently , the avenues for legal immigration are largely backed up and broken , not keeping pace with the realities of why people migrate nor the needs of business in the United States that rely on their work . Our broken system is only working for the criminal coyote networks that take advantage of immigrants ' hopes . If we fix our immigration system , people will have reasonable and accessible avenues beyond crossing the hot desert in desperation . Immigration reform is not the cause of the crisis at the border -- immigration reform is the solution . It would be nice if Republicans would face reality and be part of the solution instead of further exploiting these helpless kids in their endless vendetta against the White House .
Kohn : Unaccompanied children trying to cross the border increased by 90 % . Kohn : This is a humanitarian crisis , but Republicans are turning it into a political crisis . She says escalating violence in Obama is driving the new wave of migrating kids . Sally Kohn : Immigration reform is not the cause of the Republicans border crisis , it 's the solution .