Perry Pounded on Immigration Issue By Texas Tea Party
Texas tea party groups demand Perry call a special session to deal with illegal immigration
q1019.com
by Jim Forsyth
Monday, September 19, 2011

Rick Perry is getting a lot of grief over illegal immigration out on the Presidential campaign trail, and now he's getting some at home in Texas as well.



Leaders of several Tea Party groups and Tea Party affiliated groups today called on Perry to step off the campaign trail long enough to deal with what they say is the 'pressing issue of illegal immigration' by either calling a special session to approve 'Arizona-style' immigration restrictions, or sign an executive order empowering local police to enforce federal immigration law.



"What is it about our Republican leadership that they cannot find it within themselves to stand up for the rule of law?" asked JoAnn Fleming, who is the Texas Tea Party's liaison with the Texas Legislature and the governor's office.



Perry declared a measure to abolish so called 'Sanctuary Cities' in Texas as an 'emergency' in this spring's session of the Texas Legislature, but many conservatives accused the governor with not fighting strongly enough for the measure when it met with strong opposition from several Texas business leaders who have been major donors to Perry's political campaigns. One of them was Houston homebuilder Bob Perry (no relation to the governor) who is best known for bankrolling the 'Swift Boat Veterans for Truth' organization that helped sink John Kerry's 2004 Presidential bid.



The Texas Tea Party demand is expected to further box Perry into a corner in advance of Thursday's Republican Presidential debate in Florida. Conservative groups have blasted Perry for opposing a border wall, and for signing a 2001 bill which granted in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants who graduate from Texas high schools.



Jim Henson, Director of the Texas Politics project at the University of Texas at Austin, says the immigration issue has helped solidify opposition to Perry among conservative Republicans, and it is important for the governor to put the issue behind him.



"He has to break out the immigration issue from border security," Henson said. "He was less successful in doing that in last week's debate than he has been in the past."



Fleming says she will present petitions with thousands of signatures from Tea Party members and their supporters, calling on the governor to either call the Legislature back into special session to pass strict laws cracking down on illegal immigration, or sign an executive order empowering Texas police to enforce federal immigration law.



"We asked the elected officials to stand up for the rule of law," Fleming said Monday. She said an executive order would "simply set free law enforcement to enforce the law."



"The word 'law' really means something," she said. "It is the reverse of 'illegal.'

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