Rick Perry: Secure the Border, It's a War Zone
Rick Perry: Secure the Border, It's a War Zone
8/15/2011 | Email Katie Pavlich | All Posts By Blogger
Townhall.com
Last night in Waterloo, Iowa, presidential candidate Rick Perry gave a speech and answered policy questions from the audience. Perry took the opportunity to address border security and took a shot at President Obama for saying the border is as "secure and as safe" as it has ever been. You can watch the video here: http://www.therightscoop.com/rick-perry ... migration/
Quote:
"Let me address this issue of illegal immigration. And it's really an issue that has to be addressed. Being the governor of Texas obviously we've got a 1200 mile border. It's something I've been dealing with for a very long time period of time, practically the entire time I was the governor of Texas and unfortunately, the issue is about border security. Two months ago the President of the United States came to El Paso, Texas to give a political speech, stood on the border and said that the border between Texas and Mexico was safer than it had ever been in history. Now I don't know what history books he's reading but it's not the ones I know and it's not the border I know. We're spending $150 million + in our two year budget in Texas to supplement the Border Patrol, to supplement the local sheriffs, to supplement state law enforcement. I put our Texas Ranger Recon teams on the Rio Grande to assist with what is on many places along that border a war zone. We are outgunned. There are places on the U.S.-Mexico border where the drug cartels that the drug cartels have operational control. We're starting to see that violence washing over into the United States. We know there are transnational gangs that are operating in the state of Texas. So you can't even have a conversation about an immigration policy until you first secure the border. That is the first issue that has to be addressed. And I will assure you of one thing, when I become the President of the United States, we will have our military, our National Guard until we get the Border Patrol trained up to have enough boots on the ground to secure that border. We will have aviation assets being flown up and down that border. We will sit and talk with the new Mexican President in 2013, they're electing a new president in 2012 and together in a spirit of coopartion, because frankly if they don't work with us, Mexico has the potential to be very very big problem. But we can and we will."
The benefit of Perry's strong belief in the 10th Amendment gives the impression that he would allow states to deal with immigration policy and securing the border at a local level, and considering illegal immigration is an issue states bear the burden of at the local level, Perry may be a good option. He explained in July 2010 that unless the border is secured, laws punishing illegal immigration are worthless. Which is true. Having an insecure border while trying to get illegal immigration under control is the same as bailing out a sinking boat without plugging the hole in the bottom.
However, as Tom Tancredo pointed out in a recent Politico Op-Ed, Perry may have a strong border security stance, his illegal immigration policy stances are questionable.
[quote]When I ran for president in 2008, I tried to pressure the Republican candidates to take a hard line against illegal immigration. For this, Perry called me a racist.
When he first took office as governor in 2001, Perry went to Mexico and bragged about his law that granted “the children of undocumented workersâ€
