Perry's immigration stances draw fire, support

Houston Chronicle
By JOE HOLLEY, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Updated 09:23 p.m., Tuesday, August 23, 2011

(links at source)

On a Sunday in June 2001, the first-year governor of Texas signed legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to attend Texas colleges and universities at in-state tuition rates instead of paying international fees. Supporters of the legislation called it the Texas Dream Act.

On a June morning 10 years later, that same governor convened a special session of the Texas Legislature and urged lawmakers to pass a bill that would outlaw so-called "sanctuary cities," places where police are not allowed to ask the immigration status of people they detain. Hispanic lawmakers, most of them Democrats, considered the bill a personal affront; they warned the governor that he risked a backlash among Hispanic voters. The sanctuary city measure, which already had failed during the regular session, failed again, due in larger measure to opposition from powerful Texas business interests.

Those two efforts - one supported by a fledgling governor, the other by a man on the verge of running for president - represent Gov. Rick Perry's shifting position on immigration issues during his 10-plus years in office.

Spurned border fence

Like his predecessor George W. Bush, Perry has built a reputation over the years for taking a relatively moderate approach to immigration issues. He appointed a Hispanic secretary of state and the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court. He called the idea of a border fence "nonsense" and resisted efforts to emulate Arizona's strict approach to illegal immigration. Those positions helped him attract 38 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2010.

More recently, though, he has moved steadily rightward. As he travels about the country courting GOP primary voters, including tea partyers, the question is whether he has moved far enough to satisfy their concerns.

Perry still supports the 2001 law he signed, but he opposes the federal Dream Act.

"The governor signed this legislation back in 2001, believing that, if a young individual who was brought here through no fault of his or her own is willing to rely on a good education instead of government services, there's no reason they shouldn't be able to pay for a good college education so they can contribute to society," spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said.

Perry the presidential campaigner usually does not mention the Texas law, although a New Hampshire newspaper reporter asked him about it last month.

"To punish these young Texans for their parents' actions is not what America has always been about," Perry said.

Signed Voter Id Act

He fields questions regularly about his general position on illegal immigration and invariably highlights his get-tough approach, maintaining that the federal government must secure a dangerously porous border before the talk turns to immigration reform. He has called for Predator drones to be deployed along the border for surveillance, and his political ads have featured him touring the border with a local sheriff and warning about drug smugglers and gang violence.

Perry also signed a Voter ID Act this year, despite opposition from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and other advocacy groups denouncing the law as an attempt to disenfranchise minority voters.

The federal Dream Act failed to win passage in December 2010. Although Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., reintroduced the legislation in May, its chances have dimmed since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives. The bill would give young, undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years an opportunity for citizenship through college or military service.

"Regarding federal Dream Act legislation, it is irresponsible to be considering federal immigration reforms until the border is secure," Frazier said. "Without border security, any efforts to reform immigration will be useless and ineffective."

Perry also opposes the policy the White House announced last week that could lead to the suspension of deportation proceedings against tens of thousands of immigrants who have committed no crime other than violating immigration law.

"This administration continues to leave the door open for rampant illegal immigration by refusing to allocate the resources necessary to secure our borders and selectively enforcing our nation's immigration laws," Frazier said.

Some misgivings voiced

Although the Dream Act, federal or otherwise, is anathema for tea party voters, Perry's focus on border security seems to have tempered their concerns about his moderate past, despite misgivings expressed by some prominent tea party bloggers in Iowa and New Hampshire.

"There are mixed feelings about him in the tea party," said George Rodriguez, a retired government employee who serves as president of the San Antonio Tea Party. Rodriguez said that, personally, he considers Perry "a very, very good candidate," but that some of his tea party cohorts feel "he's dropped the ball on illegal immigration, particularly during the last legislative session."

Rodriguez, who worked for what was then the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, said he had seen "the evolution of illegal immigration." When Perry signed the Dream Act, he said, illegal immigration was not a crisis issue, but now "times are radically different."

Bill Moore, president of the Sugar Land Tea Party, also gave Perry a pass.

"That was a long time ago," he said, referring to the Texas law. "I haven't really heard people talk about it. We need to secure the border. That's the key thing for the safety of everybody, and the federal government really hasn't put up the resources to get it done."

Source: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas ... 138182.php