Thread: Obama, Perry plan meeting on border security during presiden

Obama, Perry plan meeting on border security during president's Texas visit
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12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, August 7, 2010
By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News


AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry will meet with President Barack Obama on Monday to discuss border security issues, the governor's office and the White House confirmed Friday.

Perry has been attempting to speak with the president for some time to advance the state's ideas about stemming illegal drugs and immigration.

Obama will be in Austin and Dallas on Monday for Democratic fundraisers. He will also give a speech on the University of Texas campus. He'll meet with the Republican governor at the Austin airport.

"We're happy to take any opportunity," said Perry spokeswoman Catherine Cesinger. "Even though it is brief, the governor welcomes the opportunity to discuss this issue with the president."

Perry said there's been too much talk about illegal immigration – fueled by debates over an Arizona law and the 14th Amendment's guarantee of birthright citizenship – and not enough discussion of border security.

"It's one of the reasons I want to meet with the president," Perry said. "I want to sit down with the president – or, matter of fact, I'll stand up – and share with him how to secure the border, because that's the issue that's important."

The governor said he wrote to the White House about four weeks ago requesting time with the president, even before Obama's Texas schedule was announced.

In the past few months, Washington has provided unmanned drone planes to patrol the Texas-Mexico border. The Department of Homeland Security agreed to send 1,200 additional troops for the entire border, about 250 of whom would be stationed in Texas. Perry has requested 3,000 troops for Texas alone.

Perry, who has opposed a border fence, has pushed for a greater border patrol, police and military presence along the border. He said the recent federal overtures are not nearly enough.

The governor said he wants to tell Obama "how we have found that you can secure the border. Our problem is that we just don't have the resources or the manpower to do it with any kind of basis that's going to be sustainable."

Bill White, the Democratic nominee for governor, has said he intends to maintain his campaign obligations in West Texas on Monday and has not sought a meeting with Obama while he's in Texas.

After a campaign speech Friday to the Fort Worth Rotary Club, he dismissed questions about whether he was worried about being too closely identified with the Democratic president.

"I really don't think about stuff like that," he said. "I don't use national figures as surrogates for me. I tend to campaign for myself."

Asked to assess Obama's performance in office, White dodged, saying, "I generally don't give running commentary on other levels of government."

www.dallasnews.com

Sure, The big BO will go to Texas but won't come to Arizona. Guess he figures Texas won't ask him for his "Papers"!

Can anyone say PHOTO-OP???

Ha! Perry's idea for border control is probably a plastic yellow "yield" sign to make sure the illegal invaders merge with the American population safely! Isn't he an open border fanatic??