Texas Governor Rick Perry...

Perry urges guest worker IDs
12:42 PM CST on Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Associated Press
AUSTIN -- Emphasizing immigration reform far more than he did before
his re-election, Republican Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday that a guest
worker program is needed for Mexican immigrants employed in the United
States.
Federal authorities should work toward providing identification cards
for immigrant workers that allow them to freely cross the border, Perry
said. Such a program should emphasize the "rule of law" and not reward
those who break the law, he said.
"I'd a whole lot rather know who it is that crosses our border legally
to work than not know who it is that crosses our border illegally to
work," Perry said.
The governor also said he disagrees with new state legislation
proposed by a fellow Republican, Rep. Leo Berman of Tyler, designed to
challenge the automatic citizenship of babies born in the United States to
illegal immigrants.
"I think any of those types of legislation that create divisions are
bad. We need to look at ways to be bringing people together rather than
driving wedges between them," Perry said.
Perry's comments were much more tilted toward immigration reform than
were his speeches before his Nov. 7 re-election. In the campaign, as he
worked to drum up conservative support in all regions of Texas, he
mostly steered clear of discussing immigration reform proposals and instead
stressed the need to crack down on border crime.
He said at the time that immigration changes could only be debated
after border security is accomplished. Perry did say during the campaign
that he supported some type of guest worker program.
He went a step farther and offered more opinions Wednesday in an
Austin speech to the Texas Border Coalition, made up of mayors and other
public officials along the Texas-Mexico border.
"Our economy is greatly impacted by migrant workers. Let's create a
guest worker program that takes these workers off the black market and
that legitimizes their economic contributions without doing the same for
their citizenship," Perry said, to applause from coalition members.
Immigrants who are already in the country illegally should be given
"an expanded period of time in which to come to register" for a guest
worker program, he told news reporters later.


I can honestly say I never voted for this elitist, deaf, piece of hud of a governor, though I am a republican.