Rick Perry vs. Donald Trump on Immigration

Donald Trump recently made controversial remarks regarding Mexican illegal immigrants that he has no plan to back down from.

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best,” Trump said during the announcement. “They’re not sending you, they’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they’re telling us what we’re getting.”

Those remarks have been expensive.  He lost TV deals with NBC and Univision, he lost a clothing line with Macy’s, and the PGA just parted company.

Recent news has taken the edge off Trump’s comments.  Katie Steinle, 32, was shot on July 1 in San Francisco.  The man accused of the murder, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, is an illegal immigrant who has been departed FIVE times from the United States.  He has also said that he chose San Francisco as his home because of their sanctuary city status.

Also most Americans, Rasmussen in a recent poll found, agree with Trump in principle.  Fifty-three percent of likely U.S. voters say they believe illegal immigration increases the level of serious crime in America.  Only five percent believes it decreases serious crime.

Trump has been criticized by a number of the GOP candidates including former Texas Governor Rick Perry.

“I don’t think Donald Trump’s remarks reflect the Republican party,” Perry at a National Press Club event. “I think the Republican party is reflected in people like me. It’s reflected in individuals like Eva Guzman, who is the first Latina that was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court.”

The Donald on Sunday struck back on Twitter:

Rick Perry failed at the border. Now he is critical of me. He needs a new pair of glasses to see the crimes committed by illegal immigrants.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2015

Perry responded:

Hey, Donald!  I saw your tweet the other day, but I think you might need to borrow my glasses to get a good look at the steps I took to secure the border when I was the Governor of Texas.  I can’t support what you said, but no one understands the concerns Americans have about our borders better than I do.  You see, as Governor for 14 years of the state with the longest border with Mexico, I know that there can be no national security without border security.

I also know that while border security might be Washington’s responsibility, it’s Texas’ problem. That’s why under my leadership Texas dedicated nearly a billion dollars to border security, including surge operations and the creation of Texas Ranger recon teams.  That’s also why last summer, when it became clear that President Obama would rather go to fundraisers in Dallas than see the unprecedented crises his amnesty policies were creating, I told him this: Mr. President, if Washington won’t secure the border, then Texas will.

You might have forgotten, Donald, that I deployed the state national guard to supplement our state law enforcement surge operations, which worked to combat illicit activities in the border region like drug, weapons, and human trafficking.  And I’m guessing you might not know that that deployment resulted in a 74 percent decrease in apprehensions.  Those are real results, not just rhetoric.

I know securing the border is going to take more than just building a wall.  It’s going to take more personnel on the ground, aviation assets, strategic response teams, and yes, strategic fencing in the metropolitan areas.  And securing the border will be one of the first actions I’ll take if I’m elected President of the United States.

I also know that your comments about Mexicans are offensive, and they don’t reflect the values of the Republican Party.  Mexican Americans have been part of the fabric of Texas since the very beginning.  They have fought on behalf of our state and our country from the Alamo to Afghanistan.  Donald, you might want to take a trip down to Texas sometime to meet some of the Mexican Americans that have helped make our nation great and to learn a little bit about what we need to do to secure our border with Mexico.  Otherwise, your remarks might make for good reality TV, but they’re way out of touch with reality.  There will always be bad actors, Don, and that’s why we need to secure the border against those who seek to do our country and our citizens harm. (HT: The Pulse 2016 for the transcript)

Watch the video:

Ronald Reagan once called immigrants ‘Americans by choice.’ In Texas, we have a long history of welcoming immigrants from all over the world, immigrants who have helped make our economy the strongest in the country.  It’s not fair that some people try to jump the immigration line by coming across our border illegally. One of the core responsibilities of the federal government is to secure the border. As the recent tragedy in San Francisco has shown us, it’s important for the federal government and local governments to be able to cooperate to apprehend illegal immigrants with criminal histories. San Francisco—and many other cities in America run by left-wing governments—have become ‘sanctuary cities’ that choose to openly defy U.S. immigration law and prevent cooperation with federal authorities. Perversely, the federal government subsidizes this behavior by sending Justice Department funds to cities that intentionally harbor illegal immigrants in their jails. This has to end.”

Today, I am proposing to pull funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program—or SCAAP—from sanctuary cities. States with sanctuary cities will lose a proportionate amount of their SCAAP funding as well. SCAAP funding will also be restricted to jurisdictions that actively participate in immigration law enforcement programs. Cities and counties with sanctuary policies in place will also be prohibited from applying for federal law enforcement or Department of Homeland Security grants. Federal taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to subsidize the irresponsible behavior of these governments. Furthermore, the Justice Department should allow federal immigration officials, either through the executive branch or Congressional action, to have access to prisons and holding facilities in sanctuary cities and counties, so as to verify the immigration status of people in those facilities.