Rick Perry Moves to the Right on Immigration

Town Hall ^ | October 7, 2011

[Cincinatus' Wife]

In this interview [10 questions], Rick Perry is asked all the questions on illegal immigration that people have wanted to hear him asked. Over the course of the interview, Perry revealed a lot of new information on how he'd handle the illegal immigration issue if he becomes President. Although he might disagree with this characterization, his positions on the issue seem to be well to the right of where many conservatives believe he is on illegal immigration.

Here are just a few excerpts from the interview:

-- If Rick Perry becomes President of the United States, would that fence on the border be completed in your first term?

"I think what caused the hang up was that after it was passed, it was amended to give Homeland Security complete discretion on how, when and whether the fence ever gets built. Obviously with this president, that means it will never be completed.

If I’m elected, I will direct my Secretary of Homeland Security to expedite construction of strategic fencing along the border, especially in high traffic areas where manpower alone is insufficient to do the job."

-- On whether the Obama Administration was right to sue Arizona over their immigration law.

"I respect the right of all states to develop their own solutions, whether they use the Texas model or the Arizona model. I applaud my fellow governors who are showing leadership on this issue, because President Obama certainly has not."

-- On his "I don’t think you have a heart" comment from the last debate.

"On the issue of all Texas residents paying in-state tuition, I regret the comment from the debate. It was a poor choice of words, and it wasn’t fair to those who disagree with the policy."

-- Would you like to get rid of E-Verify and if so, what would you replace it with?

"I agree that some kind of electronic verification system is needed so we can make sure employers comply with the law not to hire illegal immigrants. E-Verify is a federal government created and run program, and as a result there have been a number of problems with it so far. The Department of Homeland Security estimated the system could fail to identify more than half of all illegal immigrants. But just because it has problems doesn’t mean we should throw employee verification out. It means we should make it work. ...So as president, I’d work to put in place an E-Verify system that’s more accurate, less burdensome and really delivers the results we need it to."

-- Rick Perry on the Federal DREAM Act.

"I too oppose the federal DREAM Act and will oppose it as President."

-- Would you support comprehensive immigration reform?

"The debate on immigration reform is meaningless until the federal government secures the border. There’s just no point in passing new immigration laws when we can’t even enforce the ones we’ve got. Once our borders are secure and we’ve fixed the problem with visa “overstays,” then we can seriously address our broken immigration system. But step one is to secure that border so we have the ability to enforce the law."

Once again, you can read it all here.

[Ron H.]

Perry opposing the Dream Act is like Romney opposing Obamacare. The truth of his actions speaks louder than the lie of his words.

Some people prefer to be lied to. A lot of Perrybots seems to fall into this category.

[magritte]

The Xenophobe wing of the party on display.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Some people prefer to be lied to. A lot of Perrybots seems to fall into this category.

Not only do you lie about Rick Perry you insult his supporters. Why don't you go support your candidate -- who is he? she? It would be nice to know what kind of person they attract.

[AdamBomb]

"Yeah man, I tell ya what, man. That dang ol' Internet, man. You just go on there and point and click. Talk about in-state college tuition, man. An' lotsa chicks in college, man. It's real easy, man. Pee ol' dang ol' u man."

"I tell you what, man, you see the part where dang ol' Mitt come in there and he's talkin' 'bout tasting his own burp and Bachmann comes slidin' in there, she always does that. Them Northern boys, I tell you what...just a show about nothin'."

[Polybius]

And did you notice this in particular in org’s link (which I just sent to you with excerpts)? Regarding Cain: He has had staff shakeups in Iowa, where workers had complained that Cain was not taking the campaign seriously

Does Herman Cain want to be president or a best-selling author? .... But even as he enjoys the fickle embrace of the party's social conservatives, doubts are being raised about the straight-talking businessman's legitimacy, and even his motives. Instead of capitalizing on his newfound momentum by hitting the campaign trail hard, Cain this week opted to spend most of his time promoting his book, This is Herman Cain! My Journey to the White House, which just arrived in retail stores this week. Rather than visit diners in early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire, he's signing books at Barnes & Noble outlets in Texas and Washington D.C., although his tour does also include several stops in South Carolina and Florida, two key primary states.

[Balding_Eagle]

He has no political trail as such. His business trail is very impressive though. It’s posted often here on FR.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t recognize the difference between a slick salesman (Cain) and a real executive (Perry).

[Cincinatus' Wife]

What are you — say 23 going on 12?

[AdamBomb]

So now it is racist to point out your ignorant redneck's propensity of subsidizing illegal immigrants tuition? and failure of controlling his own borders?

Your candidate's inability to string two nouns and a verb together along with his liberal record will severely diminish any chance you think he has of winning the nomination.

[casinva]

An e-mail that went out to Cain supporters the day before his upset victory in the Florida straw poll wasn’t about one of Cain’s policy positions but instead offered them a chance to buy a collector’s edition box set of the book, complete with a red case and gold trim. “Consider giving a loved one a copy of This is Herman Cain,” it said. “You wouldn’t be giving them just a book. You’d give them a gift to open again and again.”

[Ron H.]

Buzz off crazy lady. You wouldn’t know honesty if it was biting on your big nose.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Showing off for the junior high school crowd?

LOL

[casinva]

And here's ANOTHER one now of CAIN CAMPAIGN CALAMITY - hitting your local bookmart as we speak!

The Wall Street Journal adds that the book tour has only amplified the concerns of former staffers who left the campaign over doubts about Cain's seriousness: "Organization was a real challenge," [former Cain New Hampshire campaign director Matt] Murphy said. "New Hampshire is an ideal state for a candidate like him without a lot of name recognition or money for advertising.

[Carry_Okie]

Moving into outright disinformation are you?

Getting desperate?

Yes, he's sinking and all on his own. This late spin will only sink him farther, because people will see it for the dishonest "flip flop for a vote" move that it is, knowing that it will "flop" as soon as the votes are in. Perry's is truly a condescending and dishonest position. The American people really are pissed about illegals, including most Hispanics. His history of Hispandering is going to cost him dearly.

[Polybius]

We have plenty of experience on the border already to show that building a fence in a high traffic area while not fence low-traffic areas will shift the traffic to that area. And that technology cannot compensate for a lack of a fence in that area.

Tell that to the Israelis.

There is a difference between "high traffic", "low traffic" and "in the middle of nowhere in a friggin' desert".

As outlined in Post 136, Perry's strategy is EXACTLY the strategy used by the State of Israel along it's southern border.

Our experience has been half-assed manning of the border as a result of the fact that the occupants of the White House have not been willing to put the manpower in place as Perry has been willing to and as the Israelis do now.

"Border Leader"

"Border"

So, instead, you advocate the cosmetic solution that the Federal Government steal the entire length of the Rio Grande riverfront property from Texas property owners and simply give it to Mexico by putting it on the Mexican side of a useless Fence that can be easily defeated in seconds ..... ESPECIALLY in the middle of nowhere in a desert.

YouTube Video: Watch how fast illegal aliens can climb over, cut through and go under the worthless Border Fence

[dirtboy]

There is a difference between "high traffic", "low traffic" and "in the middle of nowhere in a friggin' desert".

Like SE Arizona? We've seen how effective a deterrent that desert has been. Namely, it hasn't been.

[Polybius]

LINK: An e-mail that went out to Cain supporters the day before his upset victory in the Florida straw poll wasn’t about one of Cain’s policy positions but instead offered them a chance to buy a collector’s edition box set of the book, complete with a red case and gold trim. “Consider giving a loved one a copy of This is Herman Cain,” it said. “You wouldn’t be giving them just a book. You’d give them a gift to open again and again.”

It sounds like Cain desparately wants to replace Sarah Palin in the hearts of conservative book buyers.

[Liz]

Rusty Spanglish IS a problem. Not to worry---big-hearted "Senor Reek" has
a plan---$100,000 govt handouts to each and every identity that votes for him.

CAPTION THIS---Rick looking really sincere.

"I'm so big-hearted. When I'm president, all America will be fluent in Spanish."

[casinva]

This late spin will only sink him farther, because people will see it for the dishonest "flip flop for a vote" move that it is,

Don't count on it looking like a flip flop. Perry has a very strong record of working with law enforcement and inventive state programs to secure the border; he has always called for higher federal standards, tools, and equipment in securing our borders from illegals and would, in light of his own record, be extremely strong-willed in his federal position of taking strong stands against securing our borders.

Perry has an extraordinary record of developing and instituting inter-agency communications to enforce inter-agency work for home land security purposes.

Perry's Homeland Security Strategic Plan 2010 to 2015, published 2010

Perry also has a record of securing our voting process so that illegals can not vote, and he has a legislative record of working towards eliminating a city's ability to try to run as a sanctuary city, a protection of American citizens rights, jobs, etc.

See passages of laws, and priority measures taken, on citizen protections and on eliminating sanctuary cities at this link.

And Perry's critics lean on one act, just ONE legislative act which is one small part of a HUGE area of government, that being education - more specifically state education, which the Texas legislators passed as an education bill (state's right no less) to misrepresent Perry's strong record - PUBLIC RECORD - of his vast amount of experience in protecting our country from illegals, his record (RECORD) indicating his commitment to honoring the Constitutional mandate of the federal government's commitment to protecting our homeland security, and his record of experience with working with a wide-array of law enforcement agencies and programs to keep us safe.

More record of Perry's strong stand on protecting our citizens and our border

There is ABSOLUTELY no flip flop there.

This is just a matter of correcting the disinformation and propaganda being shoveled out there to an unassuming public who doesn't know the true facts.