President Barack Obama is asking Congress for more than $2 billion to address what he calls "an urgent humanitarian situation" on the border.
Hundreds of unaccompanied children from Central America are crossing the southern border every day. That amounts to thousands sleeping on the floors at overcrowded detention centers.
The president wants to build more facilities to house the children properly and hire more immigration judges.
He also wants to change the law to speed up their deportation, a move that would undo legislation passed during President George W. Bush's administration.
"The problem is that under current law, once those kids come across the border, there's a system in which we're supposed to process them, take care of them, until we can send them back," Obama told ABC News.
In this week's request to Congress, President Obama is also asking for money to temporarily house mothers who bring children across the border illegally.