DHAKA: US President Barack Obama has told Central American leaders that migrant children flooding into the US without legitimate legal claims will be sent home.

The presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador met Obama at the White House on Friday to discuss the crisis at the US southern border.

More than 50,000 children, many unaccompanied, have been detained at the border since October.

Obama said they must deter more children from attempting the journey.

"All of us recognise that we have a shared responsibility to address this problem," Obama told reporters at the White House on Friday, flanked by Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and El Salvador President Salvador Sanchez Ceren.

He praised his Central American counterparts for their ongoing efforts within their own nations to deter children from travelling illegally to the US, but said more work must be done to combat the "significant challenge" and alleviate the conditions that move parents to send them on the perilous trip.

"We have to deter a continuing influx of children putting themselves at great risk," he said. But he said, "Children who do not have proper claims and families with children who do not have proper claims at some point will be subject to repatriation to their home countries."

The Guatemalan president, Otto Perez Molina, said that he felt frustrated and distressed by the situation. He called for the root of the problem to be addressed.

"At the heart of this are issues of extreme poverty and a lack of employment opportunities" he said.

BDST: 1037 HRS, JUL 26, 2014