On Monday, Kansas Republican Sen. Pat Roberts blamed the influx of Central American children crossing the border on misinformation from drug cartels.

Roberts was speaking at the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association when an audience member said that Republicans should take a "softer line" on immigration in order to help move their other conservative ideas, The Associated Press reports. In response, Roberts said that drug cartels are lying to Central American children about U.S. policy toward undocumented youths and deportation, causing their illegal immigration.

After the meeting, Roberts clarified that he was not talking about all 66,000 children who have been caught at the U.S.-Mexico border since October 2013, but rather "a lot of people" from the ages of 16 to about 22.

"They become the so-called mules to expand their drug operations in the United States," he said.

The senator argued that cartels are misrepresenting President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. When asked for proof, Roberts said it is "pretty common knowledge" and that Central American governments have confirmed it.

"They put out a lot of information that was just simply not correct," he said. "It was an enticement for people to leave countries that are war-torn and where people do not believe there is an opportunity to succeed."

Roberts expects the number of undocumented Central American immigrants to reach 100,000, citing "estimates," according to AP.

"It's a humanitarian problem, it's a border problem and it's a criminal problem with regards to drug cartels -- all wrapped up into one," Roberts said. "A very difficult situation."

Another Kansas Republican, U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, was also present at the KIOGA meeting on Monday. She argued that the immigration bill passed by the Senate was "just unacceptable" in the House.

"What it came down to is we decided to not pursue that agenda because there is a trust deficit in Washington," she explained. "We pass bills, we don't pass suggestions and then watch this administration rewrite laws. ... We could pass the most perfect, ironclad immigration that we think the majority of Kansans and Americans would support, and you know what? The guy in the White House will just do something entirely different."

---

Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

Related