Gov. Rick Perry, leaping again into the national spotlight on illegal immigration, announced Monday he is sending up to 1,000 National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border, where an influx of young Central Americans has overwhelmed the federal government.
Democrats blasted the decision as a political stunt by a governor with presidential ambitions. But Perry, who has the power to call up Guard troops to deal with a broad variety of crises, said Texas had to act because the federal government has offered nothing but “lip service and empty promises” while the border is overrun with illegal activity.
“I will not stand idly by while our citizens are under assault and little children from Central America are detained in squalor,” Perry told a packed press conference at the Texas Capitol. “We are too good a country for that to occur.”
Monday’s announcement marked the second time this month that Perry, who is considering another run for the White House in 2016, has thrust himself into the center of national debate about the crisis along border. He met with President Obama in Dallas on July 9, in part, to press his demands that the feds send — and pay for — a National Guard deployment.
Absent a federal activation, Perry said he acted on his own, meaning that Texans will pick up the $12 million-a-month tab authorities say the deployment will cost. The governor and other Republican elected officials said they would ask the federal government to pay for the mobilization.
I know what my answer to that request would be. Look, we all know the reason for this. It’s one part Perry 2016, and one part a response to the fear and fear of the voters he’s trying to woo. I know what Perry hopes to accomplish by this, but I have no idea what the Guard is supposed to be doing. These are children, for Christ’s sake, not criminals. God help us all if something goes wrong. TPM, PDiddie, and Stace, who has reactions from numerous Democratic officials, have more.
What does he do with the people that Texas apprehends?
He’d have to turn them over to the feds immediately, wouldn’t he? Immigration is a federal matter and I’m not sure how or where Texas could hold them otherwise…
This guy is actually going to try and presidential run, isn’t he?