WASHINGTON -- House Republicans announced Tuesday that they will recommend dispatching the National Guard to the Texas border and speeding the return of Central American youths in response to the immigration crisis.

The recommendations came from a working group created by House Speaker John Boehner. At the same time Republicans are working to significantly pare down President Barack Obama's $3.7 billion emergency spending request for the border, hoping to act within weeks on a smaller spending bill along with a package of policy changes.

The recommendations were to be formally released later in the week, but lawmakers discussed their broad outlines Tuesday.

In response, the White House, Democrats and immigration advocates called for action on a "clean" spending bill without controversial policy changes attached.

"There's already been ample opportunity for Congress to take action, and we want to encourage them to move forward with some sense of urgency," said White House press secretary Josh Earnest.

Republicans made clear that was out of the question.

"What I will not do is vote for a blank check for the president for something that will not solve the problem," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

The developments come as lawmakers of both parties say Congress must act swiftly to deal with tens of thousands of unaccompanied youths from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala arriving at the border.

"It's a critical situation, and if we don't deal with it urgently but well, done right, we're facing a crisis of just huge proportions," said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., who traveled to Central America with Republican Rep. Kay Granger of Texas and others over the weekend.

The proposals of the House GOP group include recommended changes to a 2008 trafficking victims law that requires immigration hearings for minors who arrive at the border from countries other than Mexico and Canada. Since there's a backlog of more than 350,000 cases in the immigration court system, the result is that Central American youths stay in the U.S. for months or years as they await distant court dates that many never show up for.

"The average case now takes a year and a half to five years to go through the process. With 57,000 unaccompanied children that's just not acceptable, so we've got to change that," Granger said.

The House GOP proposal would allow youths from Central America and other countries to be treated the same as Mexican children, who can be turned around quickly by Border Patrol agents unless they're able to make the case that they have a fear of return and require further screening.

Immigration advocates and some Democrats contend that the Border Patrol screenings are cursory and inadequate, and that the children will be returned to gang violence and worse.

Obama administration officials have indicated support for changing the 2008 law, but the White House backed off from endorsing it formally after complaints from advocacy groups.

In Arizona on Tuesday, protesters carrying "Return to Sender" and "Go home non-Yankees" signs faced off with immigration activists after a sheriff said a bus filled with Central American children was on its way.

Anger has been spreading in the town of Oracle since Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu warned residents last week that children from Central America caught crossing the border illegally would be placed at the Sycamore Canyon Academy in Oracle.

"We are not going to tolerate illegals forced upon us," protester Loren Woods said.

Babeu is credited with stirring up the protesters via social-media postings and a news release Monday, and by leaking information about the children's arrival to a local activist.

He addressed both sides of the protesters, asking them to remain civil, abide by the law and keep the roads cleared. Immigration rights activists questioned Babeu about why he is stirring up protesters when he should be maintaining order as the county's top lawman.

Babeu said he was simply informing the public and was at the site to make sure the protests on both sides were peaceful.

No children had arrived as of midday. Babeu's office cited "whistleblowers" within the Department of Homeland Security as saying the children were being sent there. A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat who represents southern Arizona, said the congressman's office was told by the federal government that children would not be arriving Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, prominent immigration activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who has lived and worked in the U.S. illegally for years, was released by U.S. Border Patrol agents Tuesday after they detained him at a south Texas airport.

Border Patrol spokesman Omar Zamora said Vargas was stopped going through security at the airport in McAllen, a few miles from the Mexico border. A spokesman for Define American, Vargas' advocacy group, confirmed his release Tuesday afternoon.

It's common for the Border Patrol to release people on their own recognizance, with notices to appear in court later. With such notices, people can generally travel throughout the U.S. without being detained again.

Vargas had been visiting the border city of McAllen for several days as part of a vigil to highlight the plight of the children coming into the U.S. illegally.

Information for this article was contributed by Jim Kuhnhenn, Astrid Galvan and Christopher Sherman of The Associated Press.

A Section on 07/16/2014