Thread: Christie says he won't visit Mexico border during trip next week

By Brent Johnson | The Star-Ledger
on August 29, 2014 at 9:00 AM, updated August 29, 2014 at 11:18 AM



TRENTON - Gov. Chris Christie said he has no plans to visit the border when he travels to Mexico next week, even though he's criticized President Obama for not doing so.

The Republican governor has slammed President Obama's administration of doing an "awful job" securing the Mexico-U.S. border. He has also admonished the Democratic president for declining to make a trip there as thousands of undocumented children from Central America crossed the border into the U.S. in recent months, saying it shows an "unwillingness to lead."

But despite being a potential 2016 candidate for the White House, Christie said Thursday there's no point in him making such a visit. That, he said, is the president's job.

"What would I do exactly? Like, you know, bring troops with me or something? I mean come on," Christie said during a news conference in Sea Bright. "This is silliness. If I went down there and looked at it, what steps am I supposed to take exactly? Send the New Jersey National Guard there?"

For Christie, the trip will mark the second time in his five-year tenure as governor that he's visited Mexico to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto. He'll lead a delegation of New Jersey officials and business leaders on a three-day trip beginning Wednesday. He is also slated to meet with the nation's finance and energy ministers.

The governor has declined to say whether he'll talk about immigration with them, stressing that the goal of the trip is to bolster economic relations between New Jersey and Mexico.

"Whatever issues they want to talk about I'll be happy to discuss, but my thrust down there is to try and strengthen our economic ties," Christie said. "That's what my agenda is."

New Jersey exported more than $2.1 billion in goods to Mexico last year and imported more than $3.4 billion the same year, according to Christie's administration.

Another thing Christie said he won't do during the trip: speak Spanish.

"You have to know what you're good at and what you're not good at," he said. "I have never been really good at foreign languages. I tried in high school. I tried in college. And I never had an aptitude for it.

"I think the worst thing in the world is when politicians try to fake it," the governor added. "You know they've got a few things written in a foreign language and they say it and they sound stupid and everybody knows they don't really know what they're talking about. I'm not going to do that."

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf...next_week.html

If Christie had America' interests in mind he would not do anything that would bolster the Mexican economy if he has just a sliver if interest in being President. He just keeps on doing not so smart things, doesn't he?

Cancel the all you can eat Chicken Wings Buffet Charley

Chris Christie's not coming to the border

MEXICO CITY — Sep 4, 2014, 9:20 PM ET
By JILL COLVIN Associated Press
Associated Press

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday said he has no plans to lay out his positon on immigration reform until — and if — he decides to run for president.

Christie, who was in the middle of a three-day trade mission to Mexico, had conspicuously side-stepped the thorny issue on the first day of his trip, making no mention of legislation stalled in Congress or the flow of Central American children crossing into the United States illegally through Mexico.

On Day 2, however, the potential 2016 contender told reporters that he would only discuss the issue, which Republicans have described as crucial to the future of their party, "if and when I become a candidate for president of the United States."

"If that happens, then I will articulate a full position on it and then you guys can pick it apart and praise it or damn it however you like," he said before lunch at a taco restaurant.

"But until that time, that's not my job and it's not my role. And I understand everybody wants to start a campaign that I haven't even decided I want to be in right now. I'm just not going to do it," he said.

While its official purpose is to foster economic investments between New Jersey and Mexico, the trip was seen by many as an opportunity for Christie to burnish his foreign policy credentials ahead of a potential presidential run and to build his relationship with Latino voters. Christie did well with Latinos when he ran for re-election in New Jersey, but he has so far steered clear of articulating an immigration plan.

Christie said he told leaders in closed-door meetings that immigration was "a very difficult issue for both parties" and that "there has to be common ground that needs to be found on this issue." But he said it was up to the president and Congress to find a solution.

Many were also watching the trip to see how Christie's famously brash personal style translates to the diplomatic stage, where restraint is often required. At public events, he seemed to have left his usual bravado at home, packing instead a more humble tone. Again and again, he stressed that a key part of his mission is to listen and learn from those he meets.

Asked about the shift, Christie rejected the idea that he'd left his Jersey in Jersey, as one reporter suggested, but said that he routinely tailored his tone to his surroundings.

"In private I have a little more of it than I do in public. You know, you're getting to know people, so you don't want to go too overboard, right?" he said.

He also took issue with the one-note portrayal of his personality that tends to focus on the brash.

"I've always thought that my leadership style has been portrayed rather myopically. You know, I have more than one club in the bag and I've demonstrated that over time," he said.

While people tend to focus on the "more flamboyant stuff," he said "it doesn't mean that's the way I am nearly all of the time. And so when I'm down here and I'm in a context where a certain measure of behavior is necessary, then that's the way I act. And when there's other behavior that would be more effective, then I'll go way. And I think that's part of leadership. If all you can do is one thing, you're not going to be very effective leading."

The governor maintained a jam-packed schedule during the trip. He began his second day in Mexico with a breakfast with local CEOs and signed an agreement to establish greater collaboration between higher education institutions of New Jersey and Mexico. The agreement would increase joint research ventures, cross-border fellowships, student and teacher exchanges and conferences, among other efforts.

In the evening, Christie attended a reception with the Latino Coalition, where he stressed the respect he has for how government works in Mexico, pointing to an ambitious reform agenda and bipartisan cooperation.

"I think there's a lot that the United States Congress and the president could learn from watching what's happened here in Mexico," he said.

He was scheduled to end the day with a tour of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Roman Catholic shrine where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared. It is one of the most revered religious sites in the Americas.

Christie, who has had little time for sightseeing, said it was important to him, as a Catholic, to fit in a visit.

"It would be some kind of sin if you're a Catholic and you are this close to the basilica and you did not go," he said in humor. "I can tell you this: I need no more time in purgatory than I'm going to get already. And missing a trip to the basilica would certainly add to my time there that I've already earned."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireS...ation-25251303

by Charlie Spiering 5 Sep 2014, 8:04 AM PDT
breitbart



New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is currently traveling in Mexico, but he has absolutely no desire to discuss immigration reform or the crisis on the border.

During remarks to the press, Christie actively challenged reporters who pressed him on the issue. "I know you guys are begging to have me focus on immigration, and let me put you to rest: I'm not going to," he said, according to CNN's Ashley Killough. "You can ask in 18 different ways. ... I'm not giving you the story, so you can move on to whatever your next questions are."

According to the Department of Health and Human Service, at least 1877 unaccompanied minors have been released to sponsors in New Jersey this year.

Christie asserted that he had "no role" in the immigration debate as governor of New Jersey, unless it affected his constituents. He told reporters that he wouldn't articulate his position on immigration reform until he decided whether or not he would run for president.

"I won't have anything to say on immigration unless and until I become a candidate for President of the United States," he said. "If that happens, then I will articulate a full position on it."

As the Republican governor of a Democratic state, Christie has a record of supporting some kind of immigration reform. “The President and the Congress have to step up to the plate, they have to secure our borders, and they have to put forward a common sense path to citizenship for people,” Christie told ABC in 2010.

In January 2014, Christie signed the DREAM Act in New Jersey, allowing children of illegal immigrants to receive in-state college tuition rates."You’re an inspiration to us because in you we see all that our country can be," Christie said to a group of DREAMers during the signing ceremony. "In you we see, most importantly, infinite possibilities of the human spirit."

During his remarks, he cited his support for the DREAM Act as a message to Washington about compromising and making a smart investment.

"Unlike what happens in Washington, that government can actually work for you," he said, adding, "That things can actually get done, that agreements can be reached, and that commitments can be kept."

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...tion-Questions