WASHINGTON, Muharram 21, 1436, Nov 14, 2014, SPA -- Washington will allow some children in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to apply for refugee status from their home countries, Vice President Joe Biden announced on Friday, in a bid to stem an exodus of undocumented migrants to the U.S. border through Mexico, Reuters reported. The program only applies to children whose parents are legal residents of the United States. But Biden said it should provide an alternative for children making the "harrowing" journey alone from Central America in order to join their parents. The arrival of tens of thousands of illegal migrants from the three countries - including more than 60,000 children traveling without parents - caused widespread alarm in the United States this summer, and problems for President Barack Obama as he pushed for sweeping immigration reforms. -- SPA 22:19 LOCAL TIME 19:19 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w