Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina said if the U.S. wants to solve the current border crisis it should give $2 billion in funding to Central American nations "to attack the root of the problem."

During his visit to the U.S. this week, Molina spoke with only one American newspaper -- The Washington Post -- on Thursday and said it's up to President Barack Obama and Congress to come up with a solution to the wave of undocumented and unaccompanied children from Central America who have entered the U.S. illegally.

"If they want to attack the root of the problem, I think that they need to think about making investments in countries like Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras," Molina said. "The United States is spending about $20 billion on border security and other border crossings where they process children and where they treat them and all those other processes. We say that with just 10 percent of that money that you're investing on the U.S. border, it could be spent at minimum in the three countries, and I'm confident that it would be much more profitable than investing it on border security or border control with Mexico."

President Obama invited Molina and the leaders of El Salvador and Honduras to Washington this week to discuss the border crisis. Vice President Joe Biden and congressional leaders have also been involved in the talks.

On Friday afternoon, the leaders were expected to meet at the White House, which marks the first time Central American presidents have been called to meet as a group at the White House since former President Bill Clinton met with leaders in 1998 after Hurricane Mitch.

Molina said his government has improved living situations in Guatemala in the past two years by boosting tax revenue, bettering the education system and reducing violent crimes. He did note that, although homicide rates have dropped but "are still high in numbers," the progress demonstrates "that we can do things right."

He said U.S. officials have already notified him to expect Guatemalan immirants returned to their homeland in the coming months as the U.S. arranges mass deportations. Molina said his government is working on plans to match up the unaccompanied children with their families once they are returned.

He also said that orphans "have the opportunity to have somewhere to stay, sleep, and receive something to eat. We're going to try and be flexible with this returning process.

"Who knows how many kids we'll get," Molina said. "But, if it's 10,000 kids, then we have to put forth the effort and have the capacity to receive them, and take them to their place of origin, and once they're home ensure that they are provided with education and with the social programs to help their families."

The U.S. has provided about $800 million for security and law enforcement assistance in the Central American region since an agreement was reached in 2008 with Central American countries and the Dominican Republic. Roughly two-thirds of that funding has gone toward Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, known as the "Northern Triangle" in Central America.

However, any attempt to increase funding and aid for Central American countries is expected to be met with contempt from lawmakers. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., initially joked, "Surprise, surprise they'll be asking for more money."

But McCain, who is part of the Senate subcommittee regarding Latin American issues, spoke more seriously about the issue and said any new funding "depends on what they're asking for, depends on what their commitment is to securing their border, it depends on a lot of things."