Why Perry called National Guard

Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced Monday, July 21, that he will deploy up to 1,000 National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border, where tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors from Central America have crossed into the United States this year. Perry also wants President Obama and Congress to hire an additional 3,000 border patrol agents to eventually replace the temporary guard forces."I will not stand idly by," Perry said. "The price of inaction is too high."

Activists from the group United We Dream stage a mock funeral service for the Republican Party during a protest in Washington on July 21. They staged the funeral, they said, because "the GOP has embraced radical right-wing policies and has actively called for the separation of families and the deportation of Dreamers."

In this handout released by the Honduran government on Friday, July 18, a woman and her son walk on the tarmac after landing at Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport in Honduras. They were among the first group of Central Americans sent home under stepped-up U.S. efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.

Some immigrants caught crossing the border illegally are housed inside the McAllen Border Patrol Station in McAllen, Texas, where they were processed on Tuesday, July 15. The detainees were both men and women, young and old.

Central American migrants climb on a northbound train during their journey toward the U.S.-Mexico border in Ixtepec, Mexico, on Saturday, July 12.

Relatives carry the coffin of Gilberto Francisco Ramos Juarez, an 11-year-old Guatemalan boy whose decomposed body was found in Texas' Rio Grande Valley in June. The undocumented immigrant, who authorities believe may have died from heat stroke, was identified by a phone number on his belt buckle. A series of calls led to Gilberto's father, who described the clothes the boy was wearing.

President Obama delivers a statement in Dallas after meeting with local elected officials and faith leaders on Wednesday, July 9. Obama requested $3.7 billion in emergency funding from Congress to help cope with the surge of unaccompanied child immigrants.

Demonstrators from opposing sides of the immigration issue confront each other outside a U.S. Border Patrol station in Murrieta, California, on Friday, July 4. Some activists are demanding immediate deportation. Others say the migrants are only fleeing violence at home.

In this photo taken Thursday, July 3, Honduran mothers and their children prepare to get into a U.S. Customs and Border Protection truck after crossing the Rio Grande near McAllen, Texas. About 90 Hondurans a day cross there illegally, according to the Honduran Consulate.

People in Murrieta attend a town hall meeting on Wednesday, July 2, to discuss the processing of undocumented immigrants.

A steel border fence separates Nogales, Arizona, from its sister city in Sonora, Mexico. Nogales is Arizona's largest international border town and an entry point for goods and people from Mexico.

Cindy Jimenez, of Olancho, Honduras, wipes away tears at the bus station after she was released from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility in McAllen on Friday, June 20. Jimenez crossed illegally at zone nine, one of the busiest corridors on the U.S.-Mexico border for illegal crossings.

Officers in Nogales wait for new arrivals in the area where hundreds of mostly Central American immigrant children were being processed and held on Wednesday, June 18.

Detainees sleep in a holding cell June 18 at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility in Brownsville, Texas.

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• Texas Gov. Rick Perry is deploying National Guard troops to the border


• Former heads of border patrol and the National Guard say the plan will have limited impact


• The plan is expected to cost Texas taxpayers $12 million per month

(CNN) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry's decision to send up to 1,000 National Guard troops to the southern border is the latest move in a controversy over the influx of migrant youths from Central America, many unaccompanied, streaming into the United States.

It represents concrete action over concerns raised by Perry and other Republicans that border security be given more resources generally and specifically in this case to deal with what most agree is a humanitarian crisis.

The White House, which has declined to approve federal authorization of the National Guard in response to the immigration situation that has flared this year, panned Perry's idea as shortsighted and politically motivated.

Here are the questions we wanted to know about Perry's plan.

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Why did Perry call on the guard? Perry said those troops are needed to "combat" crime because the border patrol is busy dealing with the flow of immigrant kids crossing the border from Mexico.

The National Guard will be a "force multiplier" to aid state law enforcement to reduce crime from cartels, traffickers and criminals crossing the border, Perry said.

But isn't this a crisis about kids? Perry said the border patrol is consumed with handling the influx of migrant children and partial family units, who cannot be deported but must be humanely treated and cared for according to U.S. law.

If unaccompanied children approach the troops, however, Texas Adjutant General John Nichols, who is head of the Texas National Guard, said they will "get on the phone" to a border station so that the children will receive water and medical care.

How does that stop the influx? Perry doesn't say that it will. He said he wants to stop border crime.

So what will the border patrol do? The National Guard troops will "refer" suspected criminal activity to the Texas Department of Safety. They will also patrol the border by air, especially at night. And they will amass at the border to provide a strong visual that Perry hopes will "deter" criminals from bringing illicit activity across the border.

What won't they do? The National Guard will not make arrests. "If we were asked to, we could detain people, but we're not planning to," Nichols said.

How much will it cost and who will pay for it? Texas taxpayers are on the hook, and it will cost about $12 million per month.

Will it work? The former head of the National Guard and a former commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection bureau have said Perry's plan is limited in scope.

"The real solution to basically helping border patrol is going to be a holistic approach to this that goes way beyond more boots on the ground," said David Aguilar, the acting commissioner of CBP from 2011 until 2013.

Aguilar said one thing that will help relieve the workload of border patrol agents is to relieve CBP from being the sole government agency to process and care for the unaccompanied youth in the immediate aftermath of their detention.

The former chief of the National Guard echoed Aguilar's sentiment.

"That measure alone will not solve the current problem. It is far more complex and it requires a unity approach that incorporates state, local and federal resources," said retired Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum.

When will this take place and for how long? The troops will be immediately deployed over the next 30 days, according to Nichols. How long they will remain is unknown. Perry is asking the federal government to hire and train an additional 3,000 border patrol agents to replace the National Guard. That part of the plan is up to Congress and the comprehensive immigration plan which would have provided more resources for border security is stalled in the House, and neither body has yet unveiled how they would solve the current border crisis.

Is politics playing a role? Perry is considering another presidential run in 2016. He previewed his National Guard plan in Iowa, a key presidential nominating state, over the weekend and announced it the next day.

Perry has some reconciling to do within a Republican Party that has used the current border crisis to move to the right on the issue.

CNN political analyst and National Journal editorial director Ron Brownstein said that Perry's focus on border security "allows him to shore up his tough on security bona fides" in what has become "a big moment for the Republican Party" on immigration.

Has the National Guard been sent to the border before? Yes. The National Guard is already on the border but in smaller numbers.

A recent and much larger instance was Operation Jump Start, a two-year deployment that began in 2006 to stem the more than 1 million people who were caught crossing the border each year.

What is the situation on the border? The Rio Grande sector, where most of the immigrant children are turning themselves into the border patrol, currently has 3,000 border patrol agents covering 320 miles of land and 250 miles of water, which equates to 5.4 agents per mile. The Tucson sector, for instance, has approximately 15.7 agents per mile.

While the number of unaccompanied youth crossing the border has doubled to nearly 60,000 in the past year, the total number of immigrant crossings has mostly declined. About 1 million people have been caught crossing the border nearly every year between 1983 until 2006, but that number has dropped to about 400,000 in 2013.

At the same time, resources for border security have steadily increased: More than 18,000 agents patrolled the border in 2013 compared to 10,000 a decade ago.

And the amount spent on border security has more than doubled. The Customs and Border Patrol budget jumped from $5 billion in 2002 to $12.4 billion this year.

Immigration statistics facts

Who switched Brooklyn Bridge flags?

• Mysterious white flags are spotted atop the Brooklyn Bridge rush hour Tuesday


• NYPD's Counter-Terror Bureau and Intelligence Division are called to the bridge


• NYPD detective to CNN: "Perhaps more security is needed"

(CNN) -- The NYPD is investigating how two American flags that fly at the top of the Brooklyn Bridge were replaced by two white flags.

The swapped-out flags were spotted by construction workers at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence John Miller said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

He said members of the Emergency Service Unit found two flags, one on each tower of the bridge, that appeared to be American flags that had been bleached white. The workers also found large aluminum pans affixed as covers over the lights and secured with zip ties, Miller added.

The NYPD's Counter-Terror Bureau, the Intelligence Division and the Emergency Service Unit were on the bridge as the white flags were removed, according to an NYPD detective.

Brookly Bridge construction workers found large aluminum pans covering the lights, police say.

"At this time, it appears it has no particular nexus to terrorism or even politics," Miller said. "This may be somebody's art project, or it may be an attempt at making some kind of statement, but at this point it's not clear what that statement is."

NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton called the incident a matter of concern and said that police are requesting the help of the public as they continue to look across social media for claims of responsibility.

Miller said that the NYPD has video that shows a number of people crossing the bridge just after 3 a.m. Tuesday and within the hour, the light that normally illuminates the flag on the Brooklyn side of the bridge flickered and appeared to go out and a few minutes later the same thing occurred on the Manhattan tower.

Miller added that he believes the bleached flags were made at home and that whoever did this might have had some climbing or construction experience.

"There is a standard level of security at the bridge; apparently that security failed this morning or last night. Perhaps more security is needed," a NYPD detective familiar with the investigation said.

Miller said that there are two NYPD vehicles at each end of the bridge at all times, and after the news conference told reporters that the department is looking at putting NYPD cameras on the bridge.

Should the incident just prove to be a stunt, some people don't find the humor.

"If flying a white flag atop the Brooklyn Bridge is someone's idea of a joke, I'm not laughing," Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said in a statement. "The public safety of our city is of paramount importance, particularly our landmarks and bridges that are already known to be high-risk targets."

Adams announced at a news conference Tuesday that he is offering a reward of $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible.

New York City Councilman Mark Weprin tweeted a photo of the flags Tuesday morning. "I drive over the Brooklyn Bridge often, I thought, what the heck is that about?" Weprin told CNN. "I'm curious and I'm also concerned if it was vandals."

The Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883 and at that time was the longest suspension bridge, according to the Department of Transportation.

It has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service, and a New York City Landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

CNN's Sonia Moghe and David Shortell contributed to this report.

MERS may be airborne

• There have been 836 confirmed cases of MERS infection


• Scientists are trying to figure out how MERS is transmitted


• Researchers in Saudi Arabia found MERS RNA in barn air

(CNN) -- The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, better known as MERS, may be an airborne virus, according to an observation paper published Tuesday in the journal mBio.

There have been 836 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS infection since its first appearance in 2012, according to the latest numbers provided by the World Health Organization. At least 288 related deaths have officially been reported to the WHO.

Scientists are still trying to figure out how the deadly virus is transmitted.

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Researchers from King Fahd Medical Research Center in Saudi Arabia collected three air samples from a camel barn. Previously, they had found MERS in a camel from that barn and in its infected owner, who later died from the condition. After analyzing the air sample, the scientists found one strain of MERS RNA, the viral genome.

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How are health officials detecting MERS?

Interestingly, the barn air tested positive for MERS on the exact same day that one of the nine camels in the barn tested positive for MERS. Also, the virus from the air sample was identical to the virus found in nasal samples from the infected camel and its owner.

"These data show evidence for the presence of the airborne MERS in the same barn that was owned by the patient and sheltered the infected camels," the study authors write.

But does that mean MERS is easily transmitted through the air?

"What they say is that virus particles can be airborne, but it's premature to conclude that MERS is transmitted through aerosols," said Dr. Mark Denison, a professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.

The key point is the difference between dead virus particles and a viable virus.

"I could take billions of particles of dead viruses and could still find the RNA. That doesn't mean that there are infectious aerosols," Denison said.

Kevin Olival, a senior research scientist at EcoHealth Alliance, agrees on that distinction.

"We know that MERS is found in nasal secretion of camels, so virus particles being spread out in a barn is not a surprise," he said. "Whether or not you can get infected, and if it's a cause for concern, is still an open question."

However, previous studies have suggested that there must be a way MERS is shed into the environment. Several reports in the past have shown MERS infection of those in close contact with infected patients. The exact pathways of infections are unclear.

"Do we still need to consider the possibility of airborne transmission? Yes, of course," Denison said.

But in order to fully understand whether airborne transmission plays a role in MERS, further research is needed, Denison and Olival conclude.

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Arrest mom for leaving girl, 9, at park?

• Mother arrested for allegedly leaving her 9-year-old at the park while she was at work


• The arrest led to an online debate about how young is too young to leave kids alone


• State laws don't set a minimum age at which a child can be left on his or her own


• Helicopter parenting can get in the way of a child's growth, many parents say

Editor's note: Kelly Wallace is CNN's digital correspondent and editor-at-large covering family, career and life. She is a mom of two girls. Read her other columns and follow her reports at CNN Parents and on Twitter.

(CNN) -- The case of a South Carolina mother arrested for allegedly leaving her 9-year-old daughter at a park for hours while she worked at a nearby McDonald's has sparked a robust debate online, first about whether this mother should ever have been arrested, and second about how young is too young to leave a child on his or her own.

Let's start with the arrest, shall we.

Place me solidly in the outraged camp about the arrest of the North Augusta mother, Debra Harrell, who was charged with unlawful conduct toward a child, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in jail.

Harrell's attorney, Robert Verner Phillips, said he took the case pro bono because it "struck a nerve" with him.

He said when Harrell worked, she would sometimes leave her daughter at a friend's house, let her go with a group of friends to the park or take her to McDonald's and let her play on a laptop inside the restaurant.

But, after the laptop was stolen from their home and Harrell's daughter was "bored to death" being at McDonald's with nothing to do, Harrell ended up taking her to the park on a few occasions -- a park that was about a six-minute walk from their home and about a seven-minute drive from where Harrell worked, said Phillips.

"She could have gone home at any time. She has a key," he said, adding that she also had a cell phone.

"It just was absurd to make this insinuation that she's abandoned at the park." Phillips noted the park was the site of a government-sponsored program where an adult would be on hand giving out free breakfasts and lunches from 9-10 a.m. ET and 12-1 p.m. ET every weekday.

"This is a very independent little child," said the attorney, who believes there is a "very big public policy at stake" in this case.

"Because if this woman gets convicted, guess what? ... From now on, do officers now have an obligation every time they see a 9½-year-old not in the presence of their parents, do the parents get arrested?"

"It truly is the classic slippery slope," he added.

Many people across the country raised the question (which I wonder about, too) whether the same thing would have happened if a 9-year-old was left in a park for hours by a more privileged mom in an affluent neighborhood. Harrell is an African-American working mom living on minimum wage.

"The clear bias against a .... mother of color is so glaringly apparent," said the children's television host Miss Lori.

"The child in question had a responsible working mother, a cell phone, a plan and an obvious history of trustworthy and responsible behavior that made her mother comfortable enough to allow her to play on her own," said the mom of three, who's also a Babble.com blogger.

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Taigi Smith, a full-time working mom of a toddler, said the time has come "to stop criminalizing poor women -- black and white -- for doing whatever it takes to provide for their children."

"Wouldn't it have been better to help this mom find reliable child care or a day camp instead of placing her daughter with social services?" Smith asked. (Harrell's daughter, who was in the custody of South Carolina's Department of Social Services, is back with her mom, who has been fired from McDonald's, according to Phillips. Meanwhile, an online petition to raise money to help Harrell afford child care has been started on youcaring.com.)

Debate over how young is too young

Similar anger was directed by many women and men I chatted with via e-mail toward the bystander who felt the child should not be alone in the park and decided to call the police.

"We, as parents, need to be more supportive and less accusatory," said Buzz Bishop, a father of two boys in Calgary, Alberta, who founded the blog Dad Camp. "A mom trying to do her best in tough circumstances was knocked a few pegs lower by a busybody."

On the other side are people like Terry Greenwald, a divorced father of three, who believes "no 9-year-old should be left alone in a park while (their) mom works."

"Today's world is a dangerous place for children, especially those who are unattended."

Lesa Lamback, who uses the park Debra Harrell's daughter was playing in, agrees, telling CNN affiliate WJBF, "You cannot just leave your child alone at a public place, especially. This day and time, you never know who's around. Good, bad, it's just not safe."

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How old does a child need to be before he or she can be left alone? That's a question many of us were asking ourselves after news of this story first broke.

If we look at the laws on the books, we won't come up with anything clear-cut. According to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, there is no legal minimum age at which a child can be left alone. However, if leaving a child alone puts him or her at risk, it is considered a crime.

Phillips, Debra Harrell's attorney, confirmed there is no age at which a child can be left on his or her own specified in South Carolina law. The challenge for the prosecutor will be to prove that this child's needs and care were not adequately arranged before she was left at the park, he said.

We left a message seeking comment from the prosecuting attorney in the case, but have not yet heard back.

"The longest seven minutes ever"

So what's a parent to do?

I remember growing up in a small tight-knit neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, and walking to the store myself in the first grade. I'm sure by the age of 9 I was going to the park with my friends. (Thankfully, my mom was never arrested!)

I'll admit I'm not sure I'll let my girls, ages 6 and 8, start doing things on their own as early as 9, but I'm hoping I'll have the courage to let go soon after, especially when they desire to do more and more by themselves.

CNN's Kelly Wallace, a mom of two, remembers going to the store by herself as young as the first grade.

Bishop let his 7-year-old son ride his bicycle around the block for the first time a couple of weeks ago and wrote a blog post about it, calling it "the longest seven minutes ever."

"He rode a half-mile out of my sight. I was terrified, but guess what? He did it. And he loved it," said Bishop. "We, as parents, need to get over ourselves."

Gina Rau, a mom of two in Portland, Oregon, said her son, who is now 10, will always remember the first time he walked the dog or rode his bicycle around the neighborhood "because he was filled with so much pride."

That said, she believes every child is unique and thinks parents need to determine what each child can do and at what age.

"My daughter may do things before or later than her older brother, simply because she's unique and may not be following the same readiness track as her brother," said Rau, who runs her own marketing and brand consulting business.

Dangers of helicopter parenting

Whenever I think about this topic -- how young is too young to let our kids fly free -- I think back to Lenore Skenazy, a New York City mom, speaker, author and television host who never expected the firestorm of outrage she encountered after she wrote a story in 2008 on why she let her 9-year-old son take the subway by himself.

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After being called the worst mother on the planet and countless other things that couldn't be printed here, she wrote a book, "Free Range Kids," which has since become a top parenting blog, about how helicopter parenting is holding our children back.

"If you think back to your own childhood and some event that made you feel like king of the world -- maybe you made a tree house, or started a neighborhood game of kickball, or even got lost and then found your way home again after some very scary moments -- chances are, you were not holding your mother's hand at that moment," said Skenazy, who is also host of the international show "World's Worst Mom" on Discovery/TLC.

"Time on our own as kids allows us to screw up but also to triumph. This lays the foundation for our own definition of ourselves. (I'm the kid who took the train downtown by myself at 11!)" she said. "To get those memories, parents have to trust their kids enough to let go."

Author and blogger Avital Norman Nathman, who wrote about her outrage over Harrell's arrest, also believes that parents who tend to "helicopter" are doing "a disservice" to their kids.

"Of course we need to protect our children, but part of that protection is making sure they have the knowledge and skills to handle things on their own," said Norman Nathman, editor of the motherhood anthology "The Good Mother Myth: Redefining Motherhood to Fit Reality."

"We should be there to guide them and help them figure out how to navigate situations properly with the end goal being one of independence."

So watch this space in the next year or two. I'm sure I'll be freaking out when my daughter makes her first trip to the store by herself or her first ride sans parents on the subway or bus.

Knowing that flying solo will make her feel proud and better able to handle the challenges she'll ultimately have to face -- alone -- will hopefully get me through it. That and some advice Skenazy offered when I asked her what she tells parents who are afraid to let go.

"This saying helps a lot of people: 'All the worry in the world doesn't prevent death. It prevents life.' "

How young do you think is too young to leave a child on his or her own? Share your thoughts in the comments or tell Kelly Wallace on Twitter or CNN Living on Facebook .