While immigration reform is stalled in Congress, undocumented immigrants continue to cross the border into the United States, braving severe temperatures and dangerous terrain. 

Recently, there has been a rise in Central American teens crossing the border, unaccompanied by adults.

According to Politico, more teenagers and young boys and girls have been crossing the border unaccompanied. Many children are escaping drug and gang violence in Honduras and El Salvador, as well as a weak economy in Guatemala. Many have family members living in the United States, and walk through dangerous areas alone in the hopes of reuniting with family members across the border.

The children are called Unaccompanied Alien Children, or UACs. The number of UACs is projected to reach 66,000 this year, which is more than four times the level of UACs in 2012. 

Congress decided that extra money would be appropriated to resettle the migrant children in 2012. However, the growing numbers of migrant children are creating a major legal and humanitarian problem. 

"This is a problem of immense enormity and terrible hurt," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers on Wednesday. 

President Obama did not ask for an increase in UAC funding in March for the 2015 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. Democrats are accusing the administration of making room for the president's initiatives by keeping UAC costs low. 

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) demanded that the administration write a white paper on the crisis, and created an April 22 meeting of White House budget staff and the departments of State, Justice, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security about the issue. 

At the meeting, the administration admitted that the number of migrant children could double next year to 127,000, which could cost $2 billion, twice the budget of the president's UAC request. 

"We don't want to warehouse them. We try to put them in foster care," Mikulski said of the children. "Our failure to appropriate could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis. I need numbers."

"Tell me what you need, and don't stick us with the bill at the end. I feel you are not telling me what you need. I really don't feel that HHS is telling me what you need," she added. 

House Republicans, despite their intransigence on immigration reform, took up the issue Wednesday night. 

Republicans released a Homeland bill that appropriates more money for border protection, in addition to nearly $77 million to cover the costs of transporting children to HHS resettlement facilities. 

The increase in costs reflects the increasing number of children crossing the border. 

"It's quite a flood, it's overwhelming," said Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), who chairs the panel. 

The U.S. has also launched the Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) to strengthen the judicial systems and regulations in the three ailing Central American nations. 

However, U.S. funding for CARSI since 2008 adds up to $642 million, which is $130 million annually. The annual funding for CARSI is a fraction of the cost that HHS is facing in taking care of the migrant children crossing the border.